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Providing Good Materials for Your Small-Group Ministry

One of the biggest challenges in small-group ministries is finding the best curriculum or study materials for your small-group ministry. While many great suppliers and resources are available, what is the best material for your church? How can you be assured that it is on par with your core beliefs? With many new believers and worshipers from non-Pentecostal traditions joining our small-group community, we have worked hard to ensure that biblical truth and doctrine are preserved. Let me offer a few suggestions to ensure that groups are communicating what we need and want them to share.

Create Your Curriculum

The most successful method is to produce the studies yourself. If you want a clear handle on who provides the central teaching for your groups, Doing LifeTogether™ is one of many companies that will custom produce DVDs of you or your staff teaching. Some companies will even provide you with the materials to teach from. You can customize these materials to fit your congregation. This form of small-group curriculum gives you another opportunity to teach your church in the privacy of homes where people are more relaxed and open. These materials can also be recycled and given to other groups in the future.

If you have tech-savvy people in your church, you can also produce and distribute your own teaching DVDs. All you need is a digital video camera and a video-editing program on a computer. While producing your own DVD may seem outside the reach of the normal church, most congregations have people with this capability. When we first transitioned our church family to small groups, I sat before a video camera and recorded six weekly sessions to be played at the beginning of each group meeting. Though I used the teachings from a small-group curriculum, I personalized it for our congregation so they could hear my heart and passion.

Even if you do not have video capability, many discussion tools are available to help you craft your own discussion questions for groups to follow. In the past, I often used my Serendipity Bible for Groups™(NIV), which has questions in the margin. This way you can influence the direction and outcome of your groups’ discussions. They can personalize your teaching and discuss it with others. One group that meets after one of our Sunday morning services takes my message outline. The facilitator leads the group through the Scriptures I shared, crafting discussion questions along the way.

Preapproved Curriculum

Many Christian authors today provide discussion questions at the end of their books. Some produce small-group materials with teaching videos to accompany them. We have found these series extremely helpful when it comes to issues such as finances, parenting, marriage relationships, or dealing with life-controlling difficulties. While many of these materials are popular and well-written, make sure you or a member of your staff previews the material to ensure the teachings fall in line with the direction of your church. All group studies must be preapproved by our small-groups pastor or coaches before groups are allowed to use them.

Personal Follow-up

Finally, we make it a priority to coach every small-group leader and to visit every small group. Frequently, a staff member or small-group coach contacts or makes a personal visit to our groups to ensure each group is being led or conducted properly. While some instruction and leadership training is provided before a small-group leader is given a group, we have found on-the-job training is the best. These visits have helped us address problems, confront discourteous group members, and coach the leaders to be more effective.