Question: What are your own capabilities and limitations?
Principle: Know yourself. Don’t get in over your head.
Here are a few things to think about when it comes to evaluating your own limits as a leader.
Functionality. How easy is the study to use? Does it include everything you need? Does it have a leader’s guide in the back and other leader helps included? Is it organized so that it is easy to follow? Does it include suggested times for sections and activities? Does it provide options so you can make choices based on your leadership style and your group’s personality and interests?
Prep time. How long will it take to prepare for meetings? Do you have to spend an inordinate amount of time finding materials for the study, or is everything self-contained? Will you have to spend a lot of time trimming the study down to fit your group’s schedule? Will you have to do a lot of work making the studies fit your group?
Cost. How much is this going to set you back personally? Will you have to purchase a separate, and more expensive, leader’s guide?
Passion. Do you like the study? Can you get excited about it each week? If you are not interested in the subject or the style of the study yourself, your group will quickly catch your lack of enthusiasm, dooming the study. The answer to this one may depend on the answers to numbers one and two above. If you are carrying out the mission of your group and you know the study will help the sheep grow spiritually, then you, as the group leader, should have no problem getting excited about leading the study.
Answer all five of these questions and follow these principles, and you can navigate the sea of curriculum choices successfully. Better yet, you can lead your group to the destination God desires for you and never again hear someone in your group ask, “So…what do you think we should study next?”
