LifeGroup & LifeMission Pastor Blog

Okay, so the regionals will be talking to your CPs (if they haven’t already) about a 5 minute party that will immediately follow each experience.  The goal of the “party” is to give specific groups of people the opportunity to meet CPs.  Some weeks the CPs will invite people who are new to the church, some weeks they’ll invite people who are looking for LifeGroups, sometimes they’ll invite people who want to plug into Missions, sometimes those who want to serve, etc.  Invitees will be asked to come to the front of the auditorium immediately following the experience for 5 minutes.

Related to the parties I’d like for us to discuss 3 things:

1.  What resources do we need to have ready every week for people to find/fill a LifeGroup?

2.  What resources do we need to have ready every week for people to start new LifeGroups?

3.  How can we effectively train CPs to use the resources.

Please share your ideas!!!

I’ve really be enjoying our conversations about LG health and I’d like to address a common theme that seems to come out in our thinking.

In short, the comments that we are making show that we have a tendency to think LG Health takes place in the third leg of our stool (keeping).  Our thought process goes something like this:  “If a leader is trained, growing, etc. then the group will be healthy and a healthy group will last”.  While this makes a certain amount of sense ultimately I believe this line of thinking is wrong.  Hear me out.

Real LG Health happens not with just one leg (keeping) but with the entire stool!  A deeply spiritual person does not necessarily guarantee group success or health.  Group success and health requires a comprehensive approach and support system beginning with the staff.  As we head up the LG ministry on our campuses we must have a comprehensive and balanced approach to all three legs (starting, filling, keeping) or the stool will collapse.  As we provide solid leadership in all three critical areas (starting, filling and keeping) we create an environment of ministry-wide health that will directly contribute to the individual health of every group.

We frequently say things like “everything rises and falls on leadership” and to a great extent that’s true.  We, the staff, lead the ministry.  We can’t blame the lack of group health on LifeGroup leaders, we have to own our part.  Ultimately we are responsible for the health of EVERY LifeGroup, and we can lead them to individual health ONLY as we focus our efforts on all three legs of the stool which will create ministry health.

Which area(s) are you strong in?  In which areas do you struggle the most?  How do these things contribute to the ministry-wide health (or lack thereof) on your campus?

So this fall we’re all focusing on starting plenty of LifeGroups…with that we’re thinking about finding the right people to lead the groups.  We’re going to create a card that you, your coaches and your leaders can hand out to the people you think have what it takes to lead.  THESE CARDS ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE…they are only for those you (or a key volunteer) truly know and believe in.  You can see the first draft of the card here: leader-recruiting-card-01; share your thoughts. 

Also, something we need to do is identify the Characteristics that might make someone a great leader.  I’ll prime the pump with a few characteristics, then you chime in.

Teachability, Likeability, Passion…