How to start a small group

If you are inspired to start a bible study or small group with your age group or someone you want to inspire, here are some things I found helpful when starting my group.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Some type of educational material geared towards your focus topic.
• pens or pencils
• paper
• a meeting place
• snacks

1. Decide on what type of population you want to reach. Whether it be peers or others you have a specific subject in common with. This will better help you with your next step.
2. Reach out to your desired population. You want your small group to be just that, small, so keep the amount of people under 10 if you can.
3. Next you want to decide on your literature. Choose a variety and reach out to your group. You can list a few options and go with the majority on what to start with. This can be books or a dvd that can be watched. In this case you will need a t.v. and dvd player. Either way, you want it to be something that has discussion potential.
4. Choose a day, time, and meeting place that will allow for at least 2 hours meet time. A quiet place like someone's home or apartment would be best. This helps with the comfort of discussing certain topics and the privacy of being able to discuss and debate without interrupting others.
5. Before the first meeting, set some ground rules for the playing field. Things such as speaking out of turn and discouraging comments should be addressed as well as arriving on time and sticking it through to the end. Also, depending on your materials, you may need to do further preparation by making copies or having the appropriate media available.
6. At the first meeting, be sure everyone introduces themselves by simple introduction or through an introduction game. Next you want to lay down your ground rules and be sure they are understood.
7. Begin your class!

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful to keep the amount in attendance at a minimum. Too many people can cause confusion and make others feel unheard when trying to speak. Your ideal group size should be 7-10 people.
• As a leader, be sure to keep control of the group and keep conversation to one person at a time. Conversations on the side are very likely! It also easy for someone to speak over someone else and others to feel unheard.
• It would be a good idea to provide or ask others if they want to bring snacks.
• When choosing your items, look for items that already have questions or canhave questions written to it. This begins and keeps your discussion going.
• You want to keep your people coming back? Then don't give them homework. many people have busy schedules but like to stay plugged in to a spiritual relationship. Homework or material sent home may not make it back. Try to develop handouts or have a video that can be watched.