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RECRUITING AND TRAINING LEADERSHIP FOR SMALL GROUPS
By: ©Rev. Dr. José Abraham De Jesús-Rivera
PART III
RECRUITING LEADERSHIP FOR SMALL GROUPS MINISTRY
Recruiting and training leadership for the small group is one of the largest challenges of any church. These leaders have a very critical and important role to play in the development of the small group ministry in any congregation. After all, the small group ministry thrives on the gifts the leaders bring into this ministry.
Kirkpatrick, in Small Groups in the Church, talks about the desirable qualities for an effective small group leader. Here are the qualities he discusses:
The effective small group leader:
• Is open to others and willing to share self,
• Accepts others; is nonjudgmental,
• Is willing and able to take initiative,
• Is a good listener,
• Is a growing person,
• Is warm and supportive,
• Has confidence in groups,
• Has a healthy commitment to Jesus Christ,
• Is committed to the church.1
This lists the best qualities for a small group leader. You might not find people with all of them, but you will be able to find people that can be help to grow and to overcome any limitations they may have. These are the potential leaders to whom you will provide special training in order to “equip them for the ministry.”
ACT people make the best leaders. ACT people come in all sizes and shapes. Who are those ACT people?
• Available (willing and with adequate time)
• Committed (reliable and consistent)
• Teachable (eager to learn)
One should not assume that because a person serves on one or more boards or committees in the local congregation, that qualifies them to be small group leader, because it may not. Probably the best leaders are sitting in the pews. To be attentive and to know the qualities of church members is the only way small group leadership will be discovered and recruited. Give some space for the Holy Spirit to act. People in the congregation may feel called by God to be part of this ministry in ways you could not imagine. I would say these leaders should have a passion for being in relationships with other people and to help other people grow as they grow with them.
As a pastor of a small group ministry committee the first pool of people could come from the membership list. Take your church directory, review the list name by name to see who in that list could be possible candidates to be trained as a small group leader. Sometimes we overlook good leadership prospects just because we do not remember them at the time a candidate list is put together. By using the membership list or directory, people could surface as potential leaders.
The committee itself is another source of names for the leadership list. Many times people in the congregation know the members better than anybody else, just by being together for a longer time or from past working experiences.
Whenever you are recruiting people for this or any other ministry, try not to appoint or elect people, but call them to a ministry in the congregation. Help them see that this is not another job that needs to be done, but a call to a very specific vocation. In fact, when we talk about small group ministry we are talking about a very specialized ministry within the congregation. The churches that have experienced small group as a ministry have a different approach and success than those that experience it as “another thing to do around the church.”
After you have targeted a number of people to recruit as potential leaders (see that I used the term “potential leaders”), invite them to an informational meeting or better, a retreat. The purpose of this meeting or retreat is to present the idea, lay out the plan for the small group ministry, and get a commitment from them. The Biblical and theological reflection around the importance of this ministry for the congregation and the benefits for everyone could be a definite way to call and involve the desired leaders. Once you get a commitment from them, you are ready to start the educational process, the training of these leaders for the small groups.
TRAINING LEADERSHIP FOR SMALL GROUPS
Part of the overall plan for small group ministry should include the training phase for the leadership. There are three main questions that need to be asked;
1. How long do you want this training to last?
2. What are the ways or methods you want to use for the training?
3. What is the content of the training?
You may need to determine how long you want your training to be. I would suggest 4 to 10 hours of training. It can be done in one day or over several weeks, depending on the length and the amount of time people are willing to commit. That is a good beginning and after the first full training an evaluation can help determine if that is enough, too much or too little. We need to understand, that it would be impossible to teach every single aspect that leaders could encounter in the process of implementation. All we can do is provide the essential or fundamental tools needed for that ministry. People will learn many other things in the process. It is in some way, on the job training.
Considering the second question; what methods do you want to use for the training? This could be decided based on the available resources and the time committed to the training. For the beginning, the following methods will provide sufficient exposure to the various issues: a self study tutorial, formal class, intensive seminar, one-on-one training, and a professional trainer. I think a formal class or an intensive seminar would probably work best in most local congregations. However, each method has its own advantages and drawbacks, so they have to be evaluated in the context to be used.
The third question raises the issue of content to be taught. There are some basics that people need to get acquainted with, such as:
1. The Biblical Basis for the small groups ministry: This could include a biblical and theological reflection of the reasons why we need this ministry in the congregation.
2. Definition of small groups and small group ministry: Leaders need to know what the small group is and what it is not. When the group has out grown itself and needs to split in order to be effective. They need to know why this should be a ministry of the church and not just an isolated small group.
3. The role of the small groups within the congregation: They need to know the roles of the small group ministry within the total ministry of the congregation in the different areas of ministry, meaning education, faith formation, nurture, care, and mission.
4. Leader’s roles and responsibilities: This is another important area of the training. Leaders need to have a clear understanding of their role in the group and what are the responsibilities implied. They need to know the dangers and the rules for safely handling conflict. These are basic issues that the leaders need to be acquainted with.
The following are more specific issues that need to be part of the training.
1. Group development stages: This will address the stages any group goes through as they develop and mature in their relationships.
2. Group dynamics: This has to address the different dynamics that are created within the group as people interact together. Some of them are power dynamics, group control, and manipulation.
3. Models of leadership: It could help leaders identify their own style of leadership and make the appropriate adjustments in order to be successful in leading small groups.
4. Group activities or (ice breakers): Learn different ways of involving the people in the group. There are many group activities that can help people to get to know each other better, to make the most silent ones more outgoing, and to make everyone get into their comfort zone in a way that is constructive and productive to the totality of the group.
5. Worship alternatives: Help people understand the meaning of worship and how it can be done in a small group setting.
6. Therapeutic versus study groups: Leaders need to be trained to distinguish when a group or a discussion is becoming a therapeutic session and if that is part of the group’s covenant. It does not mean that the group should not be supportive of its members especially, in a crisis situation, but the group needs to be reminded of its purpose and covenant. Therapeutic groups need a specialized trained professional.
There are many other areas that can be included in the training, but they depend on the availability of time. The training should be designed to provide the basic skills and allow people to develop themselves as leaders as they go in the process. If the leaders of the small groups discover that there are areas they rather have more training, then another session could be scheduled to respond to those specific needs.
The pastor and the small group committee or ministry team needs to be aware of what is going on in each group in order to help and provide any further training needed to the leaders. At the same time they can benefit from using a good working small group as a place to train new leaders. The idea is to have apprentices in small groups so that they can learn to be group leaders by using the mentoring process of the small group itself. This process will help develop the new leaders needed for continuing the formation of new small groups. The hope is to train enough leaders to be used in the developing of new small groups, to respond to other needs in the congregation.
THE SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION METHOD OF LEARNING
Discussion is the preferred method to conduct small groups. Done well it allows participation of every person in the group and at the same time it allows the development of trust, confidentiality, and the ability to present an argument to a group and to discuss dissenting positions.
Malcolm Knowles affirms the following about adult learning:
1. Adults need to know WHY they need to learn something BEFORE undertaking to learn it.
2. Adults have a self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions for their own lives.
3. Experience plays a vital role in Adult Learning.
4. Adults become ready to learn those things they need to know and be able to do in order to cope effectively with their real-life situations.
5. Adults are life-centered in their orientation to learning.
6. Internal pressure is the most potent motivator.2
Discussion provides teaching adults new opportunities for learning by raising the issues most endearing to their hearts in a group large enough to provide help and small enough not to be a threat.
Since adults learn by experience, small groups present an opportunity to create a sharing process in which the experience of one person can be of value to another person’s learning process. It is in that sharing of experiences that the discussion method becomes so crucial to the small group process.
It is our hope that the preceding discussion was able to engage you in considering small-group ministry as one option for your congregation. There is a vast testimony of how this ministry has revitalized churches and how lively churches have also found a new way to respond to their members needs.
Small-group ministry is for all types of churches and for all types of contexts. Small churches can benefit by the engagement of people in ways never thought of, especially as it relates to reaching out to people in the community. Large churches can benefit by engaging people that might not be touched by their church in any other way.
1. Kirkpatrick, Thomas G. Small Groups in the Church: a handbook for creating community, New York: The Alban Institute, 1995,, 41.
2. Knowles, Malcom, The Adult Learner-A Neglected Species, Gulf Publishing, 1990.
©Rev. Dr. José Abraham De Jesús-Rivera
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