Small Group Strategies: Ideas and Activities for Developing Spiritual Growth in Your Students - Softcover

Polich, Laurie; Scandlyn, Charley

 
9780310258018: Small Group Strategies: Ideas and Activities for Developing Spiritual Growth in Your Students
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0310258014 ISBN 13: 9780310258018
Verlag: Study Resources, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

Meet students where they are. With Small Group Strategies, you can effectively guide students in your small group toward the most important relationship they will ever have—a lifelong relationship with Christ. Respected authors Laurie Polich and Charley Scandlyn offer 30-plus years of collective youth ministry experience to these proven ideas, which offer: •a strategic approach to small group ministry •hundreds of ideas to reach students at every level •practical applications that foster spiritual growth Meet your students where they are in life. You have the heart. You have the vision. Here are the ideas you need to make it happen.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

With 15 years of youth ministry experience, Laurie Polich serves as pastor of small groups and discipleship at Ocean Hills Covenant Church, in Santa Barbara. She¹s the author of several books including Help! I'm a Small-Group Leader training curriculum and book, Studies on the Go: John, and Small Group Qs, and she speaks frequently to students and youth workers across the country.

Charley is currently the Executive Director of the Ravenswood Education Foundation, providing volunteer and financial resources to 3700 preschool to 8th grade students at  9 schools in East Palo Alto and east Menlo Park. Charley also runs a Leadership Dojo for Youth Workers in the Bay area and speaks on leadership and ministry principals for church and professional staffs. He lives in Menlo Park and has 4 wild at heart boys, Ryan, Jordan, Adam and Luke!

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Meet students where they are.
With Small Group Strategies, you can effectively guide students in your small group toward the most important relationship they will ever have--a lifelong relationship with Christ.
Respected authors Laurie Polich and Charley Scandlyn offer 30-plus years of collective youth ministry experience to these proven ideas, which offer:
•a strategic approach to small group ministry
•hundreds of ideas to reach students at every level
•practical applications that foster spiritual growth
Meet your students where they are in life. You have the heart. You have the vision. Here are the ideas you need to make it happen.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Small Group StrategiesCopyright 2005 by Laurie PolichYouth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are published byZondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataPolich, Laurie.Small group strategies : ideas and activities for developing spiritualgrowth in your students / by Laurie Polich and Charley Scandlyn.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN-10: 0-310-25801-4ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25801-81. Church work with students. 2. Church group work with youth. 3.Small groups--Religious aspects--Christianity. I. Title: Small groupideas and activities. II. Scandlyn, Charley. III. Title.BV4447.P567 2005259'.23--dc222004017087Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: NewInternational Version (North American Edition), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternationalBible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means---electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, orany other---(except for brief quotations in printed reviews) without the prior permission of thepublisher.Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication. Please contactYouth Specialties via e-mail (YS@YouthSpecialties.com) to report URLs that are no longeroperational and replacement URLs if available.Editorial direction by Dave UrbanskiArt direction by Jay HowverEdited by Laura GrossProofreading by Anita PalmerCover design by BurnkitInterior design by Mark NovelliPrinted in the United StatesCHAPTER ONEA FEW IMPORTANTWORDS ABOUTSMALL GROUPSSmall groups are not the end of ministry; they are the beginning. Manyyouth workers believe that if they can get kids into small groups, theirjob is done. But the real job has just begun. Ministry is about lifechange, and for this to happen, there needs to be an intentional approachto HOW small groups will nurture and shape students' lives.Often in youth ministry, success is measured by attendance. Buthaving good attendance isn't what makes your small group ministrysuccessful. It's what happens to your students once they get there. Ifwe don't take the time to answer key questions like, Why are we usingthis ministry strategy? or What are we hoping to accomplish? we canfind ourselves with frustrated leaders, directionless students, and verylittle life-change. In one small group, after weeks of meeting together,a student asked his leader, 'Why are we here anyway?' A questionlike that---though typical of adolescence---is a sign that somethingmay need to change.Small groups can be exciting, challenging, and spiritually transforming.But again, they are the starting point of ministry---not theend. Each group needs to have an intentional goal and vision that isembraced by every member.Before we dig into what that all means, here are three foundationalprinciples every small group leader should understand:1. SMALL GROUP MEETINGS ARE VALUE-DRIVEN, NOT CURRICULUMDRIVEN.The significance of getting kids to connect is always greaterthan the goal of finishing a lesson. Therefore, a successful small-groupexperience is defined by whether or not kids participated in a meaningfuldiscussion, not whether or not the lesson was completed.How many times have you heard from a small group leaderwho came equipped with a lesson plan and was ready to fire away---only to leave discouraged because her students didn't 'get into' themeeting? (This is especially frustrating when that leader is you.) All ittakes is a long sigh, a distracting comment, or the notorious 'nap jerk'to realize you just aren't reaching your audience. And therein lies theproblem: Your students have become an audience.Sometimes a leader is unintentionally more committed to thelesson plan than the spiritual growth of the students. This happenswhen spiritual growth is understood as the transmission of informationrather than the understanding of biblical truth. This basic differencecan make a group curriculum-driven rather than values driven.As a small group leader, it's important to evaluate your groupon the basis of your values. This takes some honest thought aboutwhat is happening---and what you want to happen---in your smallgroup. That's what this book is about.Your values, whether stated or unstated, will drive your smallgroup ministry. If you don't take the time to explore those values,your small group may reflect values you don't really have. This bookwill help you develop clearly stated values that make small groupsworth leading---and give you ideas and activities for how to experiencethose values in your group.2. SMALL GROUP RELATIONSHIPS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SMALLGROUP ATTENDANCE. The core of small group ministry is relationships,not attendance. In his book, God at the Mall, Pete Ward says,'Relationships are the fuel on which youth work travels. To be engagedin building relationships with young people is an intentionalactivity.'Leanne loved the other girls in her small group and loved sharinglife with them, but when her life fell apart, she pulled back. Leannedidn't want to talk about the mess at home, so she withdrew. Leanne'sleader would see her every couple of months at church, but when sheasked her to stick around for small group, Leanne always found an excuseto duck out. Two years passed before Leanne was finally willingto come on a trip with her small group. It was then that she recommittedher life to Christ. Her telling comment was, 'I can't believe you letme come back. You always let me come back.''GOOD LEADERS ARE ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUTFOR WAYS TO MAKE CONNECTIONS WITHKIDS OUTSIDE THE MEETING'Small group attendance doesn't guarantee a good relationship betweenleader and student anymore than a lack of attendance guaranteesa lack of relationship. A student can meet with his small groupreligiously but fail to bring himself to the table. In contrast, a studentmay have poor attendance, but have a vital connection with the group.Good small group leaders develop relationships with students not onlyby leading them during the meeting, but also by pursuing them outsideof the meeting. Remember Jesus' strategy with his sheep. When99 showed up, he went looking for the one who didn't.Jesus lived out this strategy with his disciples in a more profoundway. Mark 3:14 says, 'He appointed 12---designating themapostles---that they might be with him' (emphasis ours). Being withJesus was the first and most important goal for this renegade smallgroup. The unbelievable invitation of Jesus is that he calls us to a ministryof inviting kids to be with us---so that they can be with him!3. SMALL GROUP MINISTRY GOES BEYOND THE SMALL GROUP MEETING.Our impact on the lives of kids is not limited to the 70 minutes wehave their attention. (Let's make that seven minutes for those whowork with junior high.) Good leaders are always on the lookout forways to make connections with kids outside the meeting. If there isa spiritual understanding within the meeting, look for how it can beexperienced in the real world of the students. If there is a spiritual orrelational deadlock, look for avenues outside the gathering to overcomethese obstacles.'THE MISSION OF A SMALL GROUP LEADER ISTO DEVELOP MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITHSTUDENTS AND TO HELP SHAPE THEM INTO THEPEOPLE GOD DESIGNED THEM TO BE.'Small group leaders should look for ways to foster spiritual discoverywith their students beyond 'once-a-week.

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Verlag
Study Resources
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0310258014
ISBN 13 
9780310258018
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
126
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

Friedensallee 273
Hamburg
22763
Deutschland

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