Episode Description: A healthy small groups culture is one of the most powerful tools for ministering to our students, but it doesn’t happen by accident. In this episode, we share a conversation from the “Rethinking Youth Ministry” podcast about how to create and sustain a healthy small groups culture. The panelists share inspiration and practical advice for finding and mentoring great small group leaders, structuring your programming with small groups as the focal point, and navigating periods of transition in your student ministry.
Episode Recap:
- In this episode we’re talking about small group culture and why it matters (1:26)
- What is a small group culture? (2:29)
- How to identify the right small group leaders (5:38)
- Building culture takes time, but what do you do in the meantime? (12:36)
- Volunteers aren’t just volunteers, they’re pastors for a phase of the student life (19:00)
- Not everyone is cut out to be a small group leader (21:10)
- Find coaches who can invest in your small group leaders (29:23)
- Don’t ask people to lead a small group on their own (33:39)
- Strategies for handling first-time guests (38:42)
- How do we equip small group leaders to invest in parents? (43:13)
- The goal of your sermon is to tee up conversations (47:15)
- What advice do you have for small group leaders? (57:09)
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