The Small Group Journey

This Should Keep Us All Thinking

My great niece shared this on Facebook.  I’ve heard the story before and it’s very compelling.  Hope you enjoy it!!

2010 Small Group Leaders Spring Workshop

A District Workshop for Small Group Leaders

Saturday, March 13, 2010
8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Lord of Life Lutheran Church
40W605 IL Route 38
Elburn, IL 60119
630.513.5325
www.lolchurch.net

Keynote address:

• Externally Focused Small Groups OR Sewing Like the Crazy Farmer

Workshops include:

• Nuts & Bolts of Externally Focused Small Groups
• The Leader Development Path
• Tips for Multiplying New Groups

The Small Group Leaders Spring Workshop will use a rotation format, so you'll be able to attend all three workshops!

Register Online

January Point Leader Meeting

The January Point Leader Meeting featured two speakers:

Sam O'Neal, General Editor,
SmallGroups.com.

 

Philip Zielke, Executive Director,
Phil's Friends.

Thanks to Jeff Zoellick, Our Savior, Carol Stream, for hosting the meeting. 

Our next scheduled meeting is …

Thu, Feb 18, 2010
    10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Trinity, Lisle
    Topic: Men’s Small Groups
    Speaker: Rich Cohrs, Manager, District & Cong Relations
Men’s Network, Lutheran Hour Ministries

Register Online

Big Idea # 3: Think Friends … Not Intimacy

More from Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas.  The book is organized around twelve big ideas focusing of methodology, structure and leadership. 

Big Idea # 3:
Think Friends … Not Intimacy

Conventional Wisdom: Small groups are a place where intimate relationships are formed.

Reality: Small groups are a place where new friendships are formed.

When people visit your church many times they’re looking for friendships, not just a friendly church.  Small groups are great at helping people develop friendships.  How good is your group at helping people develop friendships?  What can you do to improve??

USA Today on Multi-site Churches

Of the USA's 100 largest churches, 67% now have two or more sites and 60% of the 100 fastest-growing churches also have multiple sites, according to the annual listings of the USA's largest churches in Outreach magazine's October issue. 

Among U.S. Protestant megachurches, 37% reported having two or more locations under the same leadership in 2008, according to a study by the Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn.

Read Entire Article

Small Group Point Leaders

Small group point leaders are those people who coordinate (paid or volunteer) your church's small group effort.  The next meeting of the NID Small Group Point Leaders is scheduled for ...

Thursday, January 28, 2010
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Our Savior, Carol Stream

Featured Speakers:

Sam O'Neal, General Editor,
SmallGroups.com 
Philip Zielke, Executive Director,
Phil's Friends

Register Online Today

Three Shifts to Join the Missional Movement

Reggie McNeal’s new book titled "Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church."  To do that he has identified three critical mission shifts that have to take place …

A shift from internal to external - This is a shift from a church-centric to a Kingdom-centric view of the world. "We think in North America that the church is the destination. It is not. It's the Kingdom." "The church is a connector to help people get where they want to go - which is abundant life. When we confuse that, we miss what Jesus meant."

"So much of our evangelism strategies focus on turning people into church people. All we do is end up taking people away from the places where they can be salt and life to others." "There's a reason for the church, but it is to bless people. Don't have an evangelism strategy, have a blessing strategy."

A shift from program-driven to people development - The days of templating people's spiritual experiences are over. "We believe if we keep people busy, they'll be disciples, but we are wearing them out. People are not waking up hoping they can spend more time in church."

"Ask people, 'What would you like to see God do in your life in the next 6 to 12 months?'"

A shift from church-based leadership to apostolic-era leadership. "It's A.D. 30 all over again. All the old gods are dead." "In A.D. 30, you look for God in the world. God is breaking in on people's lives."

Previous Posts

The Leadership Challenge – Model the Way

More from one of my favorite books on leadership, The Leadership Challenge, by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.  Their research has revealed five practices that are common when leaders are able to make extraordinary things happen. Kouzes and Posner call these The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.

Model the Way

Leaders establish principles concerning the way people should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. They create standards of excellence and then set an example for others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives. They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there; and they create opportunities for victory.

Commitment # 1 — Find your voice by clarifying your personal values

• Take time for contemplation
• Record the lessons from the leaders you admire
• Write your Personal Calling Statement

Commitment # 2 — Set the example by aligning actions with shared values

• Create alignment around key values
• Speak about shared values with enthusiasm
• Teach & reinforce through symbols
• Lead by storytelling

Watch for more on The Leadership Challenge!

LCMS President Addresses Haiti Quake

In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, LCMS President Gerald B. Kieschnick speaks of LCMS relief efforts and encourages the people of the Synod to give generously.

More Information

Church vs. Bar

According to an email story I received last week, in a small mid-western conservative town, a man started building a new bar. With petitions and prayers a local Christian church promptly started a campaign to block the bar from opening. Work progressed, however, right up till the week before opening, when a lightning strike hit the bar, which burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug when they heard the news. But then the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was, through its prayers, ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise.

As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented:  “I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church that doesn't!”

Whether that story is true I don’t know. What I do know is this: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power …” (James 5:16).

From President Kieschnick’s Perspectives - January 14, 2010