Use a Year-End Review to Help Your Small Group Members Grow

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If you’ve ever gone on a long hike through rugged terrain you probably know how important it is to periodically check where you are against where you’re going.  I’ll never forget an 8 day experience I had as a twelve year old Boy Scout, hiking through a section of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.  I learned some important lessons on that trip.  Not the least of which was to pay attention to where I was but never lose sight of where I was going.

The apostle Paul seems to have learned that lesson too.  In his letter to the Philippians he wrote,

“One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

How to do a year-end review:

It’s a great idea in your small group to periodically check where you are against where you are going.  It makes a great year-end (or beginning of a new year) exercise.  Here’s a few ideas to help you get started:

  1. Talk with your group about basic idea of a year-end review.  It might help your members really grasp the importance if they think about the hiking illustration first and then talk about a few key verses that teach the goal of becoming like Christ (Colossians 1:28, Ephesians 4:11-16, Hebrews 5:12-14, etc.)
  2. Spend some time talking about where you long to go (the attributes that need to be developed or the temptations that need to be conquered).  You might want to review Galatians 5:22-23, Romans 7:15-25, and 1 Corinthians 10:13.
  3. It can be powerful to use a spiritual health assessment tool as a way to evaluate where you are right now.  You’ll find a link to a free version of Saddleback’s Spiritual Health Assessment in this post: Skill Training: Equip Leaders to Help Members Plan to Grow.
  4. The next step is to talk about where you need to go.  Remember, it’s good to have an accurate sense of where you are right now, but if you don’t keep your eyes on where you are going you can hardly expect to get there.  The Spiritual Health Plan gives you a tool that can help you think about where you need to go.  You’ll find a free version in this post: Skill Training: Equip Leaders to Help Members Plan to Grow.

What do you think?  Have an idea to add?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.