Small Group Leadership Lay Ministry Course

This course is designed to happen in two steps:

Step One: Students work alone at your own pace. You read the text The Christian Small-Group Leader, listen to 10 podcasts, and do the worksheet that goes with each podcast.  The podcasts and the worksheets can be downloaded from this site. This step will take a total of 10 to 20 hours - depending on how quickly you read the text. The 10 podcast units are intended to take you about a half hour each to listen to the podcast and do the worksheet.

Step Two: Students meet together for one five hour session. You will focus on working through cases, using the experience and knowledge gained in step one.  You will develop collegiality with other lay ministers and integrate your learning so that you use it effectively in the groups you lead.

Get started by scrolling down to Unit One and downloading the Worksheet One file. Save it to your computer or print it.

Then click on "Podcast One streaming version". It will open a window and start playing the podcast for you.  If you are working with a dialup internet connection the streaming version may leave off the end of the session. It will work better for you to go to the "Audio 1" file. Right click on it and choose "Save Target As." Select where you want to save the file on your computer and download it.  When you are ready to listen, left double click on the file and your media player should open the file and play it for you.

Unit One: What you want to learn and where you will use it

There is no reading in The Christian as Small-Group Leader (Hawkins) for this first session. Begin by downloading the Worksheet One file.  Then download the Podcast One MP3 file.

Listen to the podcast and think through the worksheet. These two tasks will take about 30 minutes.

Unit Two: What small groups do really well

This session begins to build a complex picture of the groups you participate in. The podcast adds material from Gary Gunderson's book Deeply Woven Roots.

Read chapter one, "Setting the Table" in The Christian Small-Group Leader by Thomas R. Hawkins.

Then download Worksheet Two and Podcast Two. Listen to the podcast before thinking through the worksheet.

The podcast and worksheet will take you about 30 minutes after you've read chapter one.

Unit Three: Shared vision or "why are we meeting today?"

You begin to think about and name the focus for five of the groups in which you participate. The picture of them gets more complex. "What is the future we seek and how do we make it real?"

Begin by reading chapter five, "Cultivating Shared Vision" in The Christian Small-Group Leader.

Then download Worksheet Three and listen to Podcast Three.  The podcast will help you think about the questions in the worksheet.

The podcast and worksheet tasks will take you about 30 minutes after you have read chapter five.

Unit Four: A group for every purpose

You will consider best practices for two kinds of groups - decision-making groups and support/accountability groups.  Additional material from John Tropman about building high quality decisions is introduced in the podcast. Confidentiality is discussed.

There is no new reading for this unit! Go back and read chapter five if you skipped it.

Download Worksheet Four and Podcast Four. This unit will take about 30 minutes to complete.

Unit Five: Adult learning groups, hospitality

This unit explores best practices for adult learning groups and then thinks in detail about hospitality in groups - the things that help people feel comfortable and welcome.

Read chapter four, "Offering God's Hospitality" in The Christian Small-Group Leader.  Then download Podcast Five and Worksheet Five.

This unit's tasks will take about 30 minutes after you have read chapter four.

Unit Six: Opening and closing

The beginning and the ending of a group's time can make a big difference in how well the group functions overall. This unit explores ways to help group members be present, connected, and focused.

There is no new reading for this unit! Catch up on chapter four if you haven't read it yet.

Download Podcast Six and Worksheet Six.  The  podcast and tasks in this unit will take about 30 minutes to complete.

Unit Seven: Listening Practices

In this unit you will work with the excellent description of eight listening practices from chapter six of Hawkins. Additional listening practices for support/accountability groups and for learning groups are introduced in the podcast.

Read chapter six, "Facilitating Group Listening," in The Christian Small-Group Leader.

Download Worksheet Six and Podcast Six.  The podcast and worksheet will take you about 30 minutes to complete after you have read chapter six.

Unit Eight: Why we lead, support systems, competition

Why do we lead, for ourselves or because we are called? What support systems and other self care strengthen small group leaders? How can we recognize and avoid competition between groups for the time and attention of group members? How will we work with our pastor and in other complex relationships?

This unit invites even more self-reflection than the others. Don't be surprised if it takes you more time. This is significant spiritual work.

Read both chapter two AND chapter three, "Practicing the Means of Grace" and "Nurturing Gospel Partnerships" in The Christian Small-Group Leader. You may even want to read them twice to allow the challenges they pose to sink in.

Download Podcast Eight and Worksheet Eight.  In the presence of the Spirit, the tasks in the worksheet invite a high degree of honesty with yourself. You will not be asked to share what you observe with anyone. The podcast and worksheet will probably take you more than 30 minutes to complete.

Unit Nine: Dealing with difficulties

When a group does not go well, is it the structure of the time, healthy resistance that is part of the process of change, or difficult dynamics? This unit begins to bring together all the pieces while considering what is really going on when things don't go as we had hoped they would.

Read chapter seven, "Working Through Resistance," in The Christian Small-Group Leader. Additional material is added in the podcast.

Download Podcast Nine and Worksheet Nine.  The worksheet tasks will use your imagination and invite you to begin practicing skills for helping groups through difficulties.  The podcast and worksheet will take you about 30 minutes after you have read chapter seven.

Unit Ten: Learning from cases

Looking at specific situations together allows colleagues help each other and to learn from each other's experiences. You will look at a case about small group leadership and then you will write up a case from your experience.

The cases you and your fellow students write will allow you to address questions that have not yet been posed in this course.

There is no new reading for this unit.

Download Podcast Ten and Worksheet Ten as well as Case Study 1.   Writing up a case will probably take you about 60 minutes.