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2025 Leaders Gathering Breakout: Choosing the Small Group Model that Works for Your Church.
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ADDITIONAL LINKS
SMALL GROUP LEADER APPLICATION
BREAKOUT Q&A SUBMISSIONS
CALENDAR
| What do your semesters look like? | Spring A - Campaign - Jan-March (typically 6 weeks) Spring B - continue additional 6 weeks (March-April/May) Fall - Sept-Nov (typically 10 weeks) |
| How far in advance do you announce a small group season and how long is the sign up/registration period before groups start gathering? | We typically try to get word out to our leaders about 1-2 months before the next semester begins. We open registration right away (even 2 months out). But we start making a real "push" to sign up leaders about 1 mo out from our "Join a Group" date, which is typically 3-4 weeks before groups launch. So... Notify leaders ASAP. Push to sign up leaders 1-2 months out. Join a group 1 mo out -- ideally. The calendar does not always allow this to neatly happen. |
| How do your fall/spring groups look in comparison to the campaign based ones? Do they run the same time frame? Launch the same time? | Non-campaign semesters are smaller, and we have experimented with complete "free market" to very limited study options; engagement is a little less (participants and leaders). You get a feel for who is connecting simply for connection, not bc of the momentum of the campaign, which is a good gauge of real connection in the church. |
CHILDCARE
| When your 301 groups meet for 7 weeks what do you do about childcare? During the 7 weeks and after if they continue to meet. | During 301, we have onsite childcare for the class. After 301 ends, Small Groups must determine their own childcare. |
COACHES
| Do your coaches attend any of these groups to see how the leaders are doing? Observe them? Help support? | We tried it in the past and it was never positive. Felt like an audit. So we no longer require it. Sometimes, a group leader will invite a coach to come, and that's great when it's organic. |
| Do your coaches have a visitation schedule for the Groups? | We tried it in the past and it was never positive. Felt like an audit. So we no longer require it. Sometimes, a group leader will invite a coach to come, and that's great when it's organic. |
FINDER
| How often do you clean up your groups and off board them from the website? How do you identify coaches for small groups? | We require all groups to register each semester. So the board starts over each semester. For Coaches - look for your best SG Leaders; also look for people with high EQ, highly relational and high intentionality, with a passion for Small Groups. |
| Are people signing up for groups based off a leaders name, location? Or do you assign them to a group? | People find their own groups. We do not assign them. You can search on our Finder using a variety of fields. Check it out: smallgroups.milestonechurch.com |
GROUP DYNAMICS
| There are times in small groups when a person absorbs a tremendous amount with their “walk”. How do you navigate that conversation with the member to aware of their tendency to talk to long, but not lose that brother/sister. | Start by redirecting group conversation; you can gently cut in and allow others to talk. If this does not work, you have to pull the person aside and have a loving 1:1 conversation. Explain that he or she needs to allow others more time to talk during the group discussion. Truth + Love. | |
| Is there a cap to how many people can join a small group? Any cap on how many people can co-host? Do you allow weekly, bi-weekly, and/or monthly meetings? | No caps. But I like to say when the group is too big for everyone to participate in the discussion, it's time to multiply. We allow bi-weekly meetings, but that becomes more difficult during a campaign, but some of our groups make it work. We have very few bi-weekly groups. I don't think we've had requests for monthly meetings. |
Group Dynamics |
| How do you go about connecting someone with a group when you’re in the middle of a campaign? | We "concierge" people into groups sometimes. We just talk with them, find out what they're looking for, and get a feel for which leaders they would fit with. Then it's as simple as shooting a text to the leaders to connect them. | Group Dynamics |
| How often do you shuffle your small groups | We don't shuffle them. We let leaders invite people and build their own groups. But we do offer Small Groups on a semeseter basis, this allows people to join new groups at specific times... "Spring A - Campaign - Jan-March (typically 6 weeks) Spring B - continue additional 6 weeks (March-April/May) Fall - Sept-Nov (typically 10 weeks)" |
Group Dynamics |
LEADERS REQUIREMENTS & TRAINING
| Do you have a separate on ramp process for co-leaders and people who just want to be a ‘host home”? | We ask co-leaders to go through all the leadership onboarding process. No requirements for people who want to "host" the group in their homes. Only requirements for the leaders. (Leaders often host though.) |
| Do you have a separate on ramp process for co-leaders and people who just want to be a ‘host home”? | Duplicate |
| What does Lifegroup training look like? | It's all online. Check it out here: https://milestonechurch.com/connect/small-groups/new-leader-onboarding/ |
| Does serving in a small group mean that you’ll probably be asked to just serve in small groups and not in a leadership position in another area? | Not at all. Small Groups leaders can still serve during weekend services. In fact, we've found that leading a group is one of the best ways to recruit others for your weekend serving team! (But SG leading IS serving, so there is not an expectation that you must do both.) |
NEXT GEN
| How do you get people to open up open up in a group setting (specifically in youth and kids ministry)? | It's all about relationship. Build the relationship with the students. Mix in a lot of fun. Kids will typically open up. |
RETENTION
| Do you find that small group leaders stick around season after season or do they want to take breaks often? | We have about a 70% retention rate semester-to-semester. The average leader leads 2 semesters then takes a break. This is a gut estimate, but I'd say 10-20% of our leaders are lifers... they will ALWAYS lead a group b/c it's what God has called and gifted them to do. Our goal is when a leader takes a break, someone else in the group steps up and continues the group. |
VISION
| What are 3 questions I can ask my lead pastor to capture his heart and vision for small groups? |
Answered in Session - I badly misunderstood this question during our session (I apologize). It's a GREAT question. I would ask: |