I have longed to belong to a dynamic small group. I have been doing church small groups for over 30 years. None of them have really satisfied my longing. I have also been to over half a dozen small group leader trainings. Other than basic group management, they did not get at the heart of what makes a dynamic group. I will post on some of my observations about small group process and the kind of group I would like to be involved with.
The past several years I have not been involved in a church-based small group. The small group I am involved with now is the Bed Project. After we do things to get beds into the homes of those who do not have beds or the means to get some, we retreat to what we call the NCCZ. Basically, we sit around a fire outside of the shop. We state that we want to be as intentional during that time as we are when we are building the beds. What is it that we want to be intentional about and how do we go about it? That is a question I have been wrestling with. We seem to have a better idea of what we don't want it to be. Here are some ground rules that we have at this point.
No chit-chat beyond what is socially useful (which is, what, about 30 seconds?). Let’s not waste our time.
No set beginning or ending time.
No curriculum.
No leader.
No prearranged questions.
With these few, I think we violate just about everything from my previous small group training. I think we aren’t there yet, but so far, it has been the most dynamic small group I have ever been involved with.
2 comments:
TBP is a special thing to me as well. It works without the curriculum because we don't have to manufacture a responce to what God is doing. We are actually practicing being a part of it. It has made tangible for me the goodness of God through the hands of us his people.
The key word is "practicing." We practice it and then we talk about it. God provides the curriculum during ourpractice, and it is always contemporary, meaningful, and sufficient.
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