ALC Life Group Blog

New Year's Resolution for Lifegroup Leaders

As we begin a brand new year and prepare for the start of a New Lifegroup season at Abundant Life I wanted to share this article with some great ideas for New Year's resolutions to help you grow as a lifegroup leader.  Take a look here!

 

Summer Lifegroups at Abundant Life

We are preparing for a lot of VERY exciting things coming up at Abundant Life this summer.  This Summer at Abundant Life we are going stay connected.  We are going to play hard, connect with friends, soak up the NW summer sun, and grow together.  The Abundant Life Summer Lifegroup season is coming soon and I hope that you will be part of it.  The summer is a perfect time to start a new groups, and this Summer Season will be unlike any lifegroup season we have ever had before.  You won’t want to miss it!!!

Here are some of the GREAT group types we are looking to offer this Summer!!!

Park Groups: These family oriented groups meet at a local park where the kids can play while the parents connect to talk through a book, catch up on life, and pray together.

Activity Group:  These creative groups are built around a fun summer activity such as eating at great restaurants, going to the movies, boating, BBQing.  Groups will gather to talk through a book or devotional, pray, and catch up on life while engaging in a fun activity together.

Athletic Groups:  These active groups are built around a fun summer sport such as basketball, biking, jogging, hiking, disc golf, or real gold.  Groups will gather to talk through a book or devotional, pray, and catch up on life while competing in an active sport together.

Study Groups:  These traditional groups are built around the idea of diving into an intensive study.  These groups gather to dig in deep to a topic or book of the bible, pray and catch up on life with a Bible and pen in hand together.

Don't spend your summer watching re-runs or bad reality TV.  Instead choose to embark  on an adventure with friends and invest in your spiritual growth. 

If you have a great idea for a summer season group and are ready to get your summer group up and running contact jeff@coolchurch.com. 

What Makes a GREAT Lifegroup Leader

I was challenged this week in the ACTIVATE seminar that the best lifegroup leaders are reluctant leaders.  Meaning they are the people who somebody else sees potential in that they don't necessarily see in themselves.  I think this quality is so important in leaders because it often demonstrates a heart of humility, but it also demonstrates a need dependence on God's power.  An ideal group leader is not a super gifted, highly outgoing, Bible educated, ultra confident person.  It is just the opposite.  Those who make the best group leaders are every day, ordinary people, who love God and love people and are willing to be stretched by God as they trust Him to use them to make a difference in the lives of people.  This video is a great reminder of this.

ACTIVATE

This past Saturday Abundant Life Church hosted a regional small group ministry seminar called ACTIVATE.  There were several churches represented including one church from Seattle.  In addition, we had 14 Directors, Coordinators and leaders from Abundant Life attend.  This was a great time of learning for our time.  The training helped to solidify some of the decisions that we have made as we seek to help people connect and grow at Abundant Life.  It also challenged some of our traditional thinking about small group ministry.  The Lifegroup leadership team will be reading through the book, ACTIVATE together this year. But I wanted to take some time to share some thoughts over the coming weeks about some of the principles from the training that have been influential in the way we do groups at Abundant Life.  Stay tuned.

Lifegroups: Because no one should walk Alone

Found this video that we used at Abundant Life to promote groups several years ago.  Enjoy!

Lifegroup Walk Alone from Jeff Boxell on Vimeo.

I Love my Lifegroup!

My lifegroup had our first meeting tonight and I'm so thankful for the people God has put in our lives to connect and grow with.  I have really missed meeting with our group over the summer.  I often hear parents talk about all of the reasons that keep them from being in a lifegroup.  The schedule is too busy, the need for family time, what do do with the kids, etc.  As new parents of two little kids I was reminded of how much I need to be connected to a group tonight.  So I thought I would share a few reasons why as as a parent I need to be connected to a lifegroup:

1.  I need other friends in my life who are experiencing parenthood that I can learn and grow from.
2.  I need the support and prayers of others as I stumble along the parenthood journey.
3.  I need others to be accountable to in my spiritual growth when the chaos of parenthood makes me so busy that I find myself neglecting time to listen to God.
4.  I need other people to laugh with and share stories of successes and failures as a parent.
5.  I need to make building healthy friendships and spiritual growth a priority in my life to help model a life of faith to my kids.

I now know full well that parenthood is crazy, busy, and chaotic.  And I know that there are a million reasons to choose not to take the step to commit to growing in community with others in a small group.  It's just one more thing to add to an already crazy schedule.  But after our first meeting tonight I'm convinced that it's because I'm a parent that I need to be connected to others and committed to my spiritual growth if I'm going to be effective in leading my family in their faith.

The Power of Affirmation!

I just had a brief conversation with our Pastor of Family ministries, Josh Galgan, that sparked some thoughts that I felt compelled to blog about.  The idea is this.  People never tire of being affirmed.  And adults and those we lead need affirmation and encouragement that they are winning.  As a new parent I'm learning how important affirmation is to the self confidence and healthy development of my kids.  Word of affirmation speak value, strength, and reassurance to them.  These same words speak the same value, strength, and reassurance to adults as well. 

As lifegroup leaders one of our main responsibilities is to encourage, urge, and challenge those in our groups to take their next spiritual steps.  Sometimes it can be discouraging waiting for those steps to be taken because sometimes we are looking at too big of a step.  I want to encourage you, if you are a leader, to keep your eyes out for those in your group who are taking small steps forward.  And then affirm, affirm, affirm.  Your words have the ability to breathe life into people.  Look for steps like someone signed up for a group for the very first time.  This is a very courageous step.  Or someone prayed for the first time out loud.  This is a HUGE victory.  Or maybe someone served for the first time in their life, or someone prayed with their family at a meal for the first time every, or someone sought forgiveness for the first time, or took a first step to trust God with their finances.  Be on the look out for any and all steps that people in your group are taking and celebrate those steps.  Affirm those steps.  We never grow out of appreciating words of affirmation!

Lessons from the weekend!

This weekend Pastor George was back in the saddle at Abundant Life and delivered a powerful vision casting message for Abundant Life Church, and calling us back to the mission of Abundant Life to reach the unconvinced.  Through this message God began to stir up some convictions in me in regards to how lifegroups align with George's heart for the church.

1.  If our mission as a church is to reach the unconvinced, then the mission of lifegroup ministry must be to Connect the Unconnected!  Groups are the glue that help people stick to the church as they provide a great environment to help people connect and grow in their next steps in their spiritual journey.  A healthy group helps people to study the Bible, pray, serve and play together.  It is this desire to to connect the unconnected that leads to a strong conviction in a season based small group system vs an ongoing small group system. 

Short term groups allow the unconvinced and unconnected to make short term commitments and it allows them to choose a group based on content that is helpful in their spiritual journey in an environment where they might make some friends, instead of asking them to commit to the uncertain step of intimate friendships.  Short term groups also allow the unconnected to join a group that is starting at the beginning of a study each season instead of asking them to take the akward step into a group that is mid stream in a study. 

2. The best way for mature Christ Followers to go deeper is to choose to lead a group!  Sometimes those who would consider themselves to be mature Christ followers are found asking "What about me?"  "Where do I get fed?"  The answer to this is for the spiritually mature to take the next step in their growth and choose to become spiritual parents.  Choosing to invest in the life of others and help them take their next spiritual steps.  Here is what happens when the spiritually mature stop making the pursuit of more knowledge their ultimate goal and instead choose to invest in others.

• They begin to seek wisdom and direction from God in helping to encourage and guide people
• They increase their faith by learning to trust God to use them in the lives of others
• They serve by selflessly giving themselves away for the benefit of others
• They are driven to seek God through prayer and the word as they prepare to lead the study
• They have a front row seat to life change as people begin taking spiritual steps forward

It's time that the spiritually mature begin to take steps to parenthood and begin investing in the lives of others.  It's time that we begin to follow Jesus and do what he did by choosing to invest in others.  It's time that we begin to stand up and lead by choosing to invest in others. 

I can't wait for this next season at Abundant Life Church as we commit to reaching the unconvinced, and watching new leaders raise up who are committed to connecting the unconnected.

Reasons for a Semester Based Small Group System!

This is a great article out of Willow Creek Community Church that articulates very well some reasons for running a semester based small group system.  Some of these reasons have deeply impacted my thinking and philosophy about small groups over the past couple of years.  For a long time small group ministries have held the view that the biggest win in group life was deep, gut wrenching relationships.  To give these type of relationships a chance to form than groups had to stay together forever.  However, what would happen if the relational win for groups became friendship not intimacy and the group could pick up the intensity, focus and commitment because it was only meeting for a short period of time?  I think we would actually see more spiritual growth in groups and more growth in participation because people are freed to make a short term commitment.  Click here to read the article.

Where do you receive spiritual encouragement?

I have been reading through 1 Samuel lately and have been following the story of David.  David was a young kid who defeated a giant, and earned the affection of a king.  But as Davids fame spread the king became Jealous.  Because king Saul had walked away from God, God chose David to be king.  So Saul plotted to kill David.  David spent years fleeing from town to town running for his life.  But David had a friend, Jonathan, who was the kings son.  When David got to the point where he was worn down, discouraged, and feeling defeated and tired of running he received a visit from his friend.  And in 1 Samuel 23:16 it says this,

"Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God."

David needed someone in his life to encourage him in his faith.  This is a man who was regarded as a man after God's own heart.  He had demonstrated great faith throughout his life.  Yet even David found himself in a place in life where he needed the spiritual encouragement of a friend to help him take his next step forward.

Life throws a lot of curve balls.  And we all get to a place where it's tough to continue moving forward in faith.  Where do you go when you need spiritual encouragement?  Who is praying for you?  Who is speaking into your life?  Who is encouraging to continue to trust Jesus?

This verse was such a reminder of why small groups are such an important part in the life of the church.  Because we all need a place to go when life knocks us around to receive and give spiritual encouragement.  We were never meant to live life alone.  David could not do it.  Neither can we.  Small groups serve as a place where people can be cared for, prayed over, and encouraged to take their next step of faith.