Beating Burnout: Start With Your Physical Health
Burnout appears in many different ways. It encompasses everything from physical exhaustion to deep cynicism to escape into sin. Now, you may be asking yourself why I’m addressing burnout on a blog about small groups and discipleship. #burnout
The Apostle Paul’s Top 21 Leadership Traits
Mike Mack invites leaders to use this list to continue growing in their leadership...or even for accountability purposes.
3 Things You Control That Keep People Coming Back to Your Bible Study Group
There are some things that will keep your group members from attending your Bible study group. Those things are out of your control. My advice? Don’t worry about it because you can’t control the forces at work in people’s lives. #Biblestudy
What’s NOT Working With Online Small Groups (And What Is)
Last year when the pandemic began, people were eager to try online small groups. But, in many churches when it came time to regathering groups online in Fall 2020, many groups chose to not meet and just wait it out, while others continued to meet online.
7 Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry
The consequences almost always affect unconnected people, group leaders and group members.
COVID Didn’t Break Your Small Group Ministry
COVID has caused people to rethink what they do and how they do it. It’s done a lot of things, but COVID didn’t break your small group ministry. #smallgroup #smallgroupministry
When a Same-Sex Married Couple Attends Your Small Group
"Spend significant time in your group meeting seeking God on how you should respond to same-sex couples who want to join your group."
Online Small Group Discussion Template
An online small group meeting is a different experience compared to a face-to-face small group meeting. Thanks to technology innovations, people can still meet despite limitations with time and space, but it should not be approached exactly the same as an in-person group meeting.
The Single Most Important Thing in Leading a Small Group
What is the single most important thing in leading a small group? Joel Comiskey and I recently surveyed over 1,800 small group leaders from around the world to discover what makes small groups grow.
Help! My Small Groups Are Tired of Zoom Meetings!
If you’re like most pastors, your small groups are tired of Zoom meetings. If people are working remotely, they are in a series of Zoom meetings all day long. As Nona Jones said, “The problem is that even though the meetings are different the experience is the same.” Zoom Fatigue is real.
7 Christmas Fellowship Ideas by Zoom
We’ll miss being with our families, but we’re grateful for the opportunities Zoom presents. In fact, here are some Christmas fellowship Zoom ideas we might not have considered otherwise—even if we simply record a Zoom greeting and send folks a link as a “video Christmas card”
When Your Groups Are Divided Over COVID
This is a complex time filled with believers and non-believers. Some believe that COVID is a deadly pandemic and that every precaution must be taken. Others believe that the COVID is completely made up to control people.
4 Dimensions of Jesus’ Personal Growth
"Personal growth in the hidden years is what God uses to prepare you for the public years."
10 Ways to Ignite Fervent Prayer in Your Small Group
Praying in a small group can be intimidating for those who haven’t done it before. You’d be surprised how many people are not used to praying out loud with other people around them listening in.
3 Ways to Help Small Groups Bounce Back From COVID-19
It’s no secret that COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on Sunday School and small group attendance.
Some Great Church Experiments in 2020
If you’ve been waiting to start something new, 2020 is a great year for some church experiments. Some might say that 2020 is an experiment gone wrong, but with life so some completely disrupted, you should embrace this as an opportunity to launch new things or end things that need to go away.
The Essential Small Church (7 Reasons We’re Needed)
Churches of all sizes have an important role to play. But small churches often get fewer resources and less attention than our large church counterparts, so it’s important to be reminded why small churches are just as vital to the body of Christ as big churches are.
7 Questions to Find the Purpose of Small Groups
There are lots of great resources out there for why small groups are important and why you need to be in one. Your church’s purpose for small groups is great place to start.
5 Tips to Facilitating an Effective Small Group Discussion
Small group discussion is so important, and really is the place where the Word can be applied as much as any other time. Generating discussion is tough for leaders, but is extremely important to having an effective small group discussion.
2020 – Your Year of Opportunity?
Don’t waste the opportunity of 2020. Don’t sit around waiting for things to get back to normal. Normal is gone. Normal isn’t coming back. Embrace the disruption of 2020. The field is plowed. It’s time to plant.
Latest News
The Equality Act Is the Most Significant Threat to Religious Liberty...
While discrimination toward people created in the image of God should, indeed, be opposed, the Equality Act does so in ways that significantly disregard religious liberty concerns.
New Podcasts
Jason Sobel: How to Read the Bible in High Definition
"I feel like a lot of people are reading the Bible in standard definition," says Rabbi Jason Sobel, "because they don’t know how the Old and the New Testaments connect. And when you connect the dots, the Bible comes alive."
