I was reading the Omnibus Action Group Leaders guide, and felt that I needed to get more ideas about how to explain the purpose and need for small groups. So I checked the internet for materials and discovered some interesting sites. It seems that if you google <“small group” +church”> you’ll discover that the evangelicals are pushing the concept of small group meetings in a powerful way. (By the way, I learned this also from chatting with my son’s father-in-law who is head pastor for CCF.)
Anyway, do spend some time immersing yourself with these and other materials. You can get some ideas about how we can handle the topic, and move this project along. Here are some of the links I found interesting:
SITES DEDICATED TO SMALL GROUPS:
- http://www.smallgroups.com/ [1] — the website of the famous Saddleback church, dedicated to small groups; lots of resources and ideas here.
- http://blog.smallgroups.com/ [2] — “Small Group Dynamics”, a blog site for small group leaders.
YOUTUBE VIDEOS — Interesting and funny, mostly about what small groups are NOT supposed to be:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2xLvwqiN2c [3] – a silly, little funny video about how to set up your first meeting (or how not to). Gives you some ideas to spice up the material. Additional links and videos are also here. Like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csh87aWzKh4&NR=1 [4] “What Small Groups are .. Not!”
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-i_Pm27cW8&feature=fvw [5] “Small Groups Aren’t”
marami pa dito. Just click on the additional related links in the youtube side bars.
OTHER ARTICLES, especially for LEADERS of Small Groups:
- http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/smallgroups/060405.html [6] – “Confessions of a small group leader”, a good testimony about the challenges and lessons he learned being a small group leader. Maybe we can ask some people to write a short sharing as an AGL. Or, like quotable quotes: “advice and guidance tips”.
- http://www.christianity.co.nz/church6.htm [7] – “The importance of small groups”. A short article discussing the indispensible need for small groups in big churches. Some biblical basis found here.
- http://www.randallneighbour.com/ [8] “hosting a small group” from a blog site entitled, “THe Naked Truth about Small Groups”,
- http://www.randallneighbour.com/search/label/
leader%20training – four articles about leader training, including “Top Ten Mistakes Small Group Leaders Make”, “To be Truly Effective, We Must Remain Affective”, “The non-negotiables about leaders” - http://www.smallgrouphelp.com/Training/Documents/
Evaluating_Small_Groups_for_Maximum_Impact/ “Evaluating Small Groups for Maximum Impact” - Many articles for small group leaders here à http://www.smallgrouphelp.com/Articles/
Small_Group_Leaders/
Please share your comments about these.