Not Enough Leaders
What is Darryl's next step when his ministry doesn't have enough people?
| Topics: | Growth, numerical, New groups, Recruiting leaders, Starting groups |
| Filters: | Coach, Director, Lead, Pastor |
| Purpose: | Ministry |
| Date Added: | August 17, 2009 |
Darryl is the Director of his church's small-groups ministry, but he's got a big problem. It's August, and he doesn't have nearly enough group leaders to accommodate the number of people who want to be in a small group come September.
This situation had a variety of causes, but the main issue seems to be that a large number of group leaders in Darryl's church experienced burnout last semester. They let Darryl know at different points over the summer that they just couldn't lead a group any more, and Darryl has had a rough time finding new leaders to replace them. In fact, he needs to more than double his currently supply of leaders in order to get all the group members into a comfortable group.
What should Darryl do? How can he solve this problem for both the short term and the long term?
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Hi Daryl. I too am going to the Lord of the harvest in prayer for leaders in our church. I believe that raising leaders should be more organic. At this point there are a few options for all of those trying to get into groups. If you have a large enough room you might want to use an ABF model. There is a large group time for fellowship, prayer and but then breaks out into smaller groups. Another option is DVD driven groups where the "leader" is the dvd and someone in the group can facililtate discussion i/o of being the leader. Also if you started just a few groups with what I call the H.A.L. method - Host, Apprentice,. Leader then the group will always have someone in training and can multiply your groups always with a leader. My last thot is that with the ...the crazy cutlture that we live in, perhaps we should have 8 week groups that begin October...January...and April. People are more apt to commit to something that has a beginning and an end. Hope this helps!
What if Darryl is like our church? We don't seem to have enough leaders for the number of interested individuals. We are a small church so those leaders that are leading are sometimes in a number of roles already. To take on another role might be a bit overwheming to them and those leaders who might be capable without being overwhelmed just joined groups that will not mature for another year. We are praying and trusting that God is good and will raise up the leaders at the right time for the right number of people.
I agree with what Lynn said, Some additional things that may help may be to ask the pastor/s to cast the vision of stepping up into smallgroup leadership maybe by sharing a current leader/s testimony. Another may be to hold a leader rally party where you yourself can cast this vision.
Hi Darryl! I'm sort of on the same page as you. What I'm busy doing (and it's working!) is praying firstly. Then, I have approached my fello staff members and asked them to give me 5 name of people they think could be potential small group leaders. I am in the process of going through our church membership directory to look for potential leaders - you'll be amazed! I'm also asking existing groups to point out potential leaders in their group. Look at the courses running at your church at the moment - who are ladering/facilitating/volunteering? Chances are, if they are serving, they can be leading? Good luck and keep us posted!
Launching Small Groups in a Smaller Church
Great advice for the majority of American churches
Small-Group Leader Orientation Guide
A helpful overview of the basics of small-group leadershipsee more downloads
