.png)
Leaders should actively emphasize 3 main areas of Christian life. Member Care, Sermon based Bible Discussion & Vital Prayer.
Member Care: Find ways for everyone in the group to get to know one another beyond a surface level. Visiting is great but the leader is watching and listening to the group dynamic.
Find some ice-breakers that lead to more personal and deeper understanding of one another. Icebreaker questions and activities are simply different ways of getting the people in your small group to talk about themselves. One example of an ice-breaker is, "Ask each person to share their best and worst moments from the previous week." Another might be, "If you could change anything in your life right now, what would it be?
Here is a website that offers types and examples of icebreakers. Choose icebreakers that pave the way for mature Christian character building. https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/help-others-grow/leading-small-groups/small-group-icebreakers.html
Sermon Based Bible Discussion: Leaders prepare for discussions based on Sunday morning sermons. You can find application questions in the Sunday morning bulletin. Use a few of them or change them to better suit your group. The main goal of the discussion is not so much to repeat the content of the sermon but rather to discuss how the truths that were shared from Scripture could be applied by the individual or the group or both.
Vital Prayer: Besides praying for the specific needs of the group, each Life Group is to take on the responsibility of praying for the ministries of Bethany and beyond. The Life Groups are intended to be a primary source for handling the prayer needs of the Church. The prayer team posts tools for you as a leader to help build a vital prayer life in your group. The Bethany People of Prayer ministry team is available to provide resources for you to develop vital mature prayer times during your meetings.
More: