On the weekend we had a meeting to shake down the way our small groups will look this fall.  As our church grows I don’t know how long this way of deciding groups will last.

With regards to my group, there are several things I feel we did wrong last year.  And there are several other things that I want to incorporate more effectively this year.

First, we never established a group covenant.  That will be high on my agenda list this fall.  Probably by early October at the latest I want to have us decide on one.

Second, with regards to getting to know everyone.  Last year, we took the first 8 weeks and had each person share their testimony in 10 minutes, one per week.  It was good, it got us deeper quickly, but as the year went on, things became shallower and shallower.  What I would like to do this year is have some probing testimony-related questions that we all share about, every week.  I am hoping that this will allow us to get to know each other but at the same time maintain that deeper focus throughout the year.

Thirdly, I wanted to lead a quick before meal devotional on our first meeting.  I was reading through James 3 this morning, and it occurred to me that James’ discussion of the tongue would be a good theme to start the year on – that as the mouth goes, the body often follows.  Godly talk will lead to Godly growth, but if we let our talk dwell on the base, we may not see the change we want to see this year in each others’ lives.  Maybe the quick before meal devotional will set a standard for the rest of our meetings.

Phil just reminded me to invest in our apprentice leaders at both the Awana level and the small group level this year.  Good advice.  We need to look at our schedule and set firm goals for those too.