Making Small Groups Work
There are a few books every small group pastor needs. One of those books is Making Small Groups Work by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. You may recognize their names as the authors of the best-seller, Boundaries. If you're looking for source material to build a leader training or enrichment course, this is a must have.
Delivered in a very digestible format, Making Small Groups Work's 292 pages is divided into 6 parts.
- How Small Groups Help People Grow: a very helpful section on the ingredients that make groups conducive for growth.
- What Happens in a Good Group: more than a description, this section is written to help leaders and members learn how to build forgiveness, mentoring, grieving, accountability, and 10 other elements into the group.
- Starting a Small Group: provides an excellent overview on the importance of deciding on purpose and ground rules as well as how to do it.
- The Responsibilities of Group Facilitators: this section could be the basis for a multi-session workshop for leaders covering everything from how to listen, facilitate for change, provide safety, and a number of other important topics.
- The Responsibilities of Group Members: if you're looking for material that can guide desired outcomes of discussion material produced in-house, this is a very helpful section.
- How to Deal with Problems in Groups: this section ought to be included in the training process for every leader. From neediness to passivity, you'll find help for 7 of the most challenging issues leaders face.
Whether you can afford to purchase several and make them available as required reading for leaders or you simply pick up one for yourself and use it as a resource to develop leader training, Making Small Groups Work is required reading for every small group pastor.
