Advice from an Experienced Small-Group Member

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How small groups contribute to one woman's spiritual growth

Hollie Baker-Lutz | posted 8/18/2008

Topics:	Life-change, Member, New member, Spiritual formation, Spiritual growth
Filters:	Member, New Member, Seekers, Train
Purpose:	Discipleship
References:	1 Thessalonians 5:11 , Hebrews 10:25
Date Added:	August 18, 2008

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Note: This article has been excerpted from the SmallGroups.com training tool called Small-Group Member Orientation Guide.

Hollie Baker-Lutz is the marketing coordinator for the Discipleship Team at Christianity Today International. She has been involved in small groups—as a member and a leader—for more than ten years.

Building Small Groups: Can you tell me a little bit about your current small group?

Hollie Baker-Lutz: Right now we have three couples that attend our group regularly, and we meet once a week. We start by having dinner together and then we get to the "study" part, which right now is Rob Bell's Nooma series.

One thing that's interesting about our group is that we're trying to re-focus on prayer. In the past, we've fallen victim to something that I think is common for a lot of groups, which is trying to save time at the end of the meeting for prayer, but that time just doesn't get protected or valued as much as it should. So we are starting to experiment with new ways to pray and getting a new focus on prayer.

And how has that been going?

Good! Recently we tried an exercise where we pray through the alphabet, thanking God for one thing represented by each letter. So it could be an attribute of God, like faithfulness—or I think I thanked God for grapes when it came to G. That was a really cool experience.

What do you enjoy most about being part of a small group?

I think it's the opportunity to be more transparent than usual. In a church setting, for example, you obviously can't have a lot of one-on-one interaction with what's being talked about. But in a small group, you can really interact with the material being taught. You can also interact with other people and be honest about where you are and how you're feeling about whatever is being discussed.

What have been some challenges you've had to overcome as you've been involved with different small groups?

First, when you're new to a small group that already exists, it's hard to know when you can feel like a fully integrated member. For me it was finding that moment when I felt comfortable suggesting that we do something different. Because at the beginning, I'm not going to say, "Thanks for inviting me; I don't want to study that."

When you've been with a group for a long time, one of the challenges you face is trying to figure out how to measure change, how to plan for change. This was a big issue for my small groups in college. We would have great discussions, but things wouldn't really change from week to week. I would leave feeling encouraged—feeling like I'd been heard or that I'd learned something about another person or about faith. But when we came back next week, we'd have the same questions or we'd have the same spiritual pitfalls.

So it's important to have a plan in a small group—without feeling overly structured—to answer the questions, "How are we going to plan for change and growth, and how are we going to measure it?" But getting that plan can be a challenge.

How do you measure whether a small group is contributing to your spiritual growth?

For me it's a change in behavior. When my current group prayed through the alphabet, for example, I found myself having more of an attitude of thankfulness throughout the next week. By doing that exercise, I realized that there is so much more around me that I can be praising God for—little things, big things, who God is, people I come in contact with.

Also, my small group helps me stay accountable—to the group members and also to myself. Because the meetings are so regular and Wednesday just keeps coming. And I realize that I'm going to have to talk about what we discussed last week, and they're going to ask me how I've done. So that motivates me to do something throughout the week so that I have an answer.

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