i. Loved in order to love. Small group leaders should stand firm in the faith that God loves them. When my understanding of the love of God for me shakes, everything else in ministry shakes as well (John 10:28, Zeph 3:17).
ii. Wounded healers. When God heals our wounds, those wounds become a wonderful tool of God to heal others (2 Cor 1:4).
iii. Entrusted with people. God has given me my small group members, people more precious than anything else in the world (1 Tim 1:12-13).
2. Three Core Values for Small Group Ministry
i. A father’s heart. The first mindset a small group leader should have is a father’s heart. God works through a faithful heart toward your small group, one to serve each member with love and sacrifice (1 Cor 4:15).
ii. Self-denial and taking up the cross. As Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, a small group leader should deny himself or herself and take up the cross of the Lord in order to be His disciple. Confessing your weaknesses and sins at the small group meeting is the one example of practicing this life of self-denial (Gal 2:20).
iii. The Power of the Holy Spirit
The small group leader needs to believe that the Holy Spirit can intervene powerfully in your life. The power of the Holy Spirit is revealed when we surrender all to the Lord (Acts 1:8).
3. Seven Habits of Good Small Group Leaders (Excerpt from How to be a Great Cell Group Coach1)
By practicing these good habits, a leader can make God’s heart rejoice while growing up in the image of Jesus Christ together with his or her followers.
i. Get spiritual power from God. God is willing to meet with and empower you every day. Before meeting with small group members, taking time to approach God is a priority for your ministry. Two examples are as follows:
1 Joel Comiskey, How to Be a Great Cell Group Coach: Practical Insight for Supporting and Mentoring Cell Group Leaders (Houston: Cell Group Resource, 2003).
(A) Meditation: Through a time of meditation, you are able to first gain strength and recover and deepen your relationship with God. It is a natural reaction to give others as much power as you receive from God.
(B) Prayer: Small group members are able to experience the power of a small group leader’s prayer. By the time a small group meeting ends, the small group leader should make time to for each person to share prayer requests and should recommend all the members to remember and pray for these prayer requests.
ii. Encourage your people. Encouragement refreshes the small group members in the middle of complex realities and motivates them to follow God.
(A) Encouragement is the oxygen supplied to your people.
(B) You need to encourage their changes to make progress in their faith life.
iii. Take care of your people. One priority for small group leader is to take care of the members whom God has entrusted to you. Several action steps for taking care of small group members are as follows:
(A) You need to first shares your own difficulties in order to build relationships of mutual dependence and trust.
(B) You need to honestly admit your mistakes and say, “I’m sorry.” You are highly recommended to have the courage to ask forgiveness to your small group members.
(C) Be friends with your small group members. Such friendship is the key to success of your small group.
iv. Pursue development and training. A significant way to grow your small group members is by continuing to challenge them to grow out of their comfort zone and keep them consistently trained. Some examples are as follows:
(A) Small group members can develop their talents, gifts, and passions through special information or training provided by the church.
(B) You can ask small group members critical questions to encourage them to find solutions for their problems.
(C) Use the items on this to-do list to develop a healthy and growing small group:
a. Invite new people to the small group meeting every week.
b. Contact the small group members regularly.
c. Send comments or messages of encouragement online
d. Plan and prepare in advance for the next small group meeting.
e. Demonstrate good skills in evangelism, listening, and small group leadership.
f. Get acquainted with your small group and learn how to meet their needs through group activities.
g. The final goal for the small group leader is to lead the small group members to be more like Jesus.
v. Set up strategies and challenges. Small group leader should have a time to keep praying together with the small group members in order to fulfill God’s vision for the small group.
(A) You need to keep focusing on dividing into two small groups in order to build another small group leader and create another healthy small group.
(B) You should discover and nurture a future small group leader to long for God and faithfully participate in small group meetings.
(C) Consider asking another small group member to take charge of prayer or worship as a good way for more people to participate.
(D) Be ready to lovingly rebuke small group members when they walk the wrong path.
(E) Continue to encourage and challenge the members to achieve their God- given dreams.
vi. Follow the Checklist for Personal Spiritual Life and Small Group Ministry. The spirituality of the small group leader determines the spiritual level of your small group. Without personal intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the small group leader will experience challenges in carrying out the small group ministry. You need to regularly check the level of your own relationship with the living God. The following questions can help you with this checkup:
(A) Checklist for Personal Spiritual Life
a. Do I frequently evaluate my own spiritual condition?
b. Am I trying every day to imitate the life of Jesus?
c. Do I make enough time for Jesus and the Holy Spirit to work in my life?
d. Do I meditate on the Word (Q.T.) and pray every day?
e. Do I make spiritually connections with and encourage my small group members?
f. Do I regularly read good devotional books?
(B) Checklist for Small Group Leadership
a. Did I correctly preach the truth of the Bible at this meeting?
b. Did I try to balance Bible study, prayer, and sharing at the small group meeting?
c. When a small group member shared prayer requests, did I give them helpful advice?
d. Have I set an example of prayer for the small group members?
e. Was I transparent in sharing my life in the small group meeting?
Session 3: Strategies for Vitalizing a Small Group