Jan

29

Decision Making

January 29, 2008 | 1 Comment

How does your group make decisions? How do you decide what to study, how large you will be, when you will split?
Groups have different personalities and different ways of making decisions. In some groups, the leader is the benevolent dictator, issuing decisions by fiat. If that’s the culture and it’s handled with sensitivity, that can […]

Oct

4

Rules for Respect

October 4, 2007 | 4 Comments

Mary Schaller at SeekerMinistries.com lists ten Rules for Respect, taken from the book Secrets of Effective Communication and summarized by Kathy Hellman. These are amazing guidelines for maintaining appropriate boundaries with anyone—especially with members of your small group.
Especially if you have challenging people in your group, consider discussing these rules at your next meeting. And […]

Sep

21

Lead Like a Shepherd

September 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Heather Zempel has done it again with her post on ZoneGathering, the blog of National Community Church in DC. This time she writes about the leader as a shepherd, and discusses how the character of a shepherd will provide superior oversight for his or her sheep. She suggests three characteristics of a good shepherd leader:
Shepherds […]

Sep

20

Character of a Good Appretice

September 20, 2007 | 1 Comment

Greg has a great article on developing apprentices for small groups at Dying of Thirst. He uses the acronym FAITH, which I like a lot better than the FAT I used in my original list in my first book, Small Group Bible Studies: How to Lead Them (Standard Publishing, 1991).
He suggests that a leaders need […]

Sep

11

Book Signing at The Door

September 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I just returned from a wonderful event at The Door Christian Bookstore in San Carlos, our local Christian bookstore. Kathy Dunn (below), the new owner, has wanted to do more than sell books. She wants to build community within the local Body of Christ. So she invited me to do a book signing […]

Aug

28

Dealing with Members with Personality Disorders

August 28, 2007 | 2 Comments

I just read an interesting article on Brain Based Business. While the article discusses dealing with people with personality disorders in the workplace, the same principles apply to such members in small groups.
You may run into people in your group who exhibit personality disorders. Of course, you aren’t qualified to deal with them on a […]

Aug

25

Lead Where You Are

August 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Mary Schaller at SeekerMinistries.com has a great post today. She attended the Willow Creek Leadership Seminar, and discusses Bill Hybels’ challenge that we as leaders (and I would add, everyone else) are responsible for inspiring ourselves as opposed to expecting someone to do it for us.
This is such a great point. How often have you, […]

Aug

23

Servant Leadership

August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Nathan Gonzales of the National Community Church in DC has a wonderful post today on ZoneGathering.com. He talks about the importance of being a servant leader or shepherd of the flock God has entrusted to you. This is a great reminder for all of us in ministry as we begin a new year. Am I […]

Aug

18

Dealing with Divorce

August 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Divorce is certainly a challenge. We hate it, yet it’s becoming increasingly prevalent in the church. If you’re a leader dealing with divorce among group members, BuildingSmallGroups.com has just released a Training Download called Dealing With Divorce in Your Small Group. It includes seven articles plus additional resources. I’m delighted that my article, Living in […]

Aug

9

The Praying Leader

August 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

The Zone Gathering, the online community for leaders of National Community Church, has a wonderful post on the importance of prayer for leaders. I know this is a constant problem for many of us. We get so busy doing the work of the Lord that it’s easy to leave him out. I know that life […]

« go back — keep looking »