The Crossline Community Groups Podcast

Keeping it Fresh: How To Energize Small Groups Experiencing Slumps

• Jordan Gash • Season 1 • Episode 14

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This episode explores strategies for revitalizing small groups experiencing stagnation. We discuss leadership changes, outward focus on community service, and encouraging spiritual stretching as keys to maintaining a vibrant and engaging group experience: 

• Encouraging leaders and group members 
• Navigating the stages of small group dynamics 
• Signs of group staleness and recognizing the need for change 
• Benefits of changing the facilitator or leader 
• Implementing leadership rotations for freshness 
• Turning group focus outward to serve the community 
• Exploring mission project ideas and opportunities 
• Engaging with visiting missionaries for inspiration 
• Stretching spiritual boundaries through new practices 
• Considering disbanding to launch new groups 
• Concluding thoughts on group impact and significance

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Speaker 1:

Well, hello everyone. My name is Jordan Gash, I'm the Community Life Pastor at Crossline Community Church and this is the Crossline Community Groups podcast. Thanks so much for joining us today. It's been a little while, but we got a fresh new episode and that's actually what we are talking about. All throughout this episode is keeping it fresh, and so, before we get going, I want to talk to all those leaders that are out there watching this, whether you're a small group leader or a small group pastor, or you're a pastor just at your church. I just want to bless you and say thank you for what you're doing. What you're doing matters. It's having an impact on the kingdom. Don't give up. The Lord is with you and he has great plans for what's ahead. So let's be encouraged in that and with that, let's get going.

Speaker 1:

So, small groups they have different stages and phases. You have that moment when you start a new small group and that new small group it's filled with all sorts of emotions. It's filled with fear and awkwardness and the adjusting picture, and then vulnerability, vulnerability and excitement and encouragement and all of it. But one thing that can't be denied about a new group is that it's filled with action and new experiences. It's kind of in Indiana Jones mode, right where you're putting all the pieces of the map together and you're exploring all these unknown passageways and you're discovering things, and it's kind of exciting, kind of scary but also exciting, and that's what you have in this new group phase. Then, after a while maybe give it six months, maybe give it a year your group starts to hit its stride and you start banging on all cylinders and those friendships that you started to make in the beginning, now they're really deepening and the flow of the group becomes more natural. You understand each other, the studies that you're doing are relevant and accompanied by tons of discussion, because it's really in line with what your group needs and what your group is excited about.

Speaker 1:

But then there's another stage. There's kind of this stage that I've hit multiple times in different groups and I've talked with many and it comes and you kind of don't expect it. But there's a stage that happens to longstanding groups where you drift towards this staleness. It's the same old, same old syndrome where you're going every week, it's the same time and you're engaging in discussion, but it just kind of feels like the same and it feels a little bit boring. It feels a little stale. Maybe you're not the most eager to jump into group. Now, there's nothing really unhealthy about those groups. It's kind of like they're. They're like expired vitamins, like they're not going to hurt you if you take them, but they're. They don't have the same potency, and that's what these groups are. These kind of longstanding, a little bit stale, haven't really changed.

Speaker 1:

Groups that you're going, you're engaging, you're being faithful, you're not neglecting the meeting, of meeting together, like it says in Hebrews 10.25, but it's really just not having that oomph that maybe that you had in the early stages of your group. And so what we're going to talk about today is, like I said, is we're going to talk about freshness and I'm going to give you three simple things that you can do to refreshen your group so that you are getting the most out of it. Okay, so we're going to get right into it. Number one the first thing that you can do and maybe this is the easiest one is that you can change up the leader or the facilitator. Different leaders have different vibes and have different styles, and so if you have a different leader, that's naturally going to overflow into the group and the group's actually going to evolve into something that looks a little bit different than it did before. And this type of thing really makes it fun because if you have this longstanding group, you can bring in one of the other group members as the new leader or facilitator of that group. But you don't have that huge period of time where you're trying to build up trust for that person. You've already known that person, you've already engaged with that person, you have relationship with that person, so you can just jump right into that whole new leadership style, that whole new leadership vibe.

Speaker 1:

And I think it's important that when we do this, and when we kind of invite somebody to step into that new leader, facilitator role within a small group, you need to give them the freedom to switch some things up a little bit. If they're the leader and they're the facilitator, let them lead and let them facilitate. Don't say, hey, we'd like to have you take over, but you need to do it just like I did it. Or you need to do it like this Boom, boom, boom, boom. Like, allow them the space and the room to really maybe turn the dials a little bit and change things a little bit and lead as they would lead, as the Lord would anoint and appoint them to lead, and I've done this a couple times in different groups and I would say that every time that we do it it does feel fresh, it feels like a new group.

Speaker 1:

You know we have right now we have an amazing leader in our group that we have with Brandon, and Brandon what I appreciate about him is he brought this wonderful new sense of structure and order to our group that I don't know if it existed before Maybe there was more free, flowing and spontaneous before, which that was a fun time and that was engaging, but Brandon really brings it back home to really having focused conversation. That, I think, is really healthy for our group and it's been a great opportunity for us. And so he went through a whole year and we said we want him to do it again because it really was in this place of feeling great with him leading Now. Will Brandon lead our group for the rest of the time of our group? Probably not. You know we'll probably switch some things up and change some things again, but for right now it's this amazing season that we get to kind of walk through with him as our leader.

Speaker 1:

One more thing that you can do if you're talking about switching up the facilitator or a leader within your group. You also can plan on doing a rotation for leaders, maybe per study. I've also done this in my groups and had great success. As you go, okay per study, there's going to be a new leader. So for this next eight week study on Ephesians, we're going to have you know Joe and Cindy, and they're going to be the ones that are going to lead the group and lead the conversation. But once we switch over to that six-week study on parenting, we're going to actually have you know Joe, bob and Cindy Lou I don't know, just making up names here. But that kind of rotation definitely promotes a sense of freshness, because you're always having people that are switching into that new flavors, and also gives them a chance to grow and develop in their own leadership as they take these rotations. So that's the first and maybe easiest way for you to keep things fresh in your group If you're feeling like you, you're drifting towards that sense of staleness or stagnation or you just need to kind of spice it up a bit.

Speaker 1:

I do want to say though, before we go into number two, for those leaders and facilitators, that, as you heard me say this and say, switch up your leader and facilitator, you reacted. Maybe you're, you've got that little tension in your gut. Wherever you are, whether you're, you know, listening in your office or in the car, or you're watching online, like and you heard me say that it's like I don't really feel super great about that, I don't know about that, and it's like you're having this emotional response. I want to encourage you to check yourself on that. What is the reasons that you feel that type of reaction?

Speaker 1:

And a lot of times, when leaders don't want to give things up or don't want to release those things, it's pride manifesting in one of two ways. Number one you think to yourself well, if I give it up, I don't think that they will be as good as me. That's the first thing. I don't want to give it up because nobody's going to be as good as I am at leading this group, and that again, that is pride. That's pride and that's insecurity. Now flip it to the other side of the coin. You think to yourself if I give it up, I'm a little afraid that they'll be better than me. Once again, that is pride and that's insecurity.

Speaker 1:

So, if you're struggling with the idea of being able to give up leadership and facilitation of your small group. Think to yourself are you in one of those two categories where you truly are honest with yourself, saying I don't think anybody's going to be as good as me, or I'm afraid that they're going to be better than me and that's going to make me feel insecure? If those are you, I want to encourage you to take some time to pray to the Lord, ask the Lord to help you give that up and really allow you to step into this, this new chapter of your group that's going to be great and thriving and powerful. God may want to do things in your group that you're not even expecting, and what that's going to take is going to have to take you to humble yourself and allow somebody else to kind of take that opportunity to come and lead your group. So that is the first way.

Speaker 1:

Number two the second way that you can really keep your group fresh is to turn the focus outward. Most of the time in small groups we tend to focus inward. I mean, it's all about personal growth, it's praying for one another, it's hearing about life updates, it's talking about studies that are relevant to the group and then maybe every now and then, you get to talking about outreach and the Great Commission, and that kind of you know peaks its way into your conversation here and there as you're discussing whatever you're discussing. You to do to freshen up your group is to take a season to intentionally and proactively turn the group focus outward, to caring for the least of these, sharing the gospel, discipling others, giving generously all these different things that are opportunities for you to look outward and not inward. The examples of this could mean planning serving days, doing a day where you are going to go out and evangelize together.

Speaker 1:

That could be challenging, but that's going to be something so cool for your group. It could be a mission trip. Maybe there's maybe for us. We're right here in California and maybe you're listening in California too, and you could just jump down and, you know, do something down in Mexico, or engage in something that's close by, or even inner city work. You know, jumping into a mission trip together as a team. It could mean raising money for kingdom projects. Maybe you're going to run everybody's going to run a race together or do a relay, or we're going to do a fundraising drive for building a house in, you know, in Africa, or whatever it might be.

Speaker 1:

Having something that is so outwardly focused like that, as you're raising money, is important. It could be talking to your pastors and finding out the missionaries that your church supports and, if any of them are going to be stateside, finding opportunity to invite them to maybe come and speak to your group. Going to be stateside, finding opportunity to invite them to maybe come and speak to your group. That's always a fun opportunity, not only for groups but for missionaries to come and engage with people and obviously, let's face it, missionaries are always looking to kind of share what God's doing in their spaces and places, and so maybe inviting missionaries to come speak in your group Maybe it means prayer and fasting for your lost neighbors, the neighbors that don't know Jesus, and you're going to spend each and every week really taking an hour to pray for your neighbors, to pray for their salvation, pray that you would be sent forth as a harvest worker and that God would send other harvest workers to help engage and reach your neighbors. And so those are just some of the examples of ways that you, as a group, can really be outwardly focused, and I'll tell you that there's nothing quite as invigorating and refreshing as a strong and collective push towards serving the lost, and the least as a group, that really does inject a shot of adrenaline into your group. A couple examples here that I kind of will explain that we've done as a group that I'll give you.

Speaker 1:

That were signs that we were in a place where we needed something new and something fresh. So we tried something new. The first thing was that we brought all our families together. And we said the first thing was that we brought all our families together and we said what if we take a day where we, you know, collect different things, you know in our home that we want to give away, we want to build out bags for the homeless, we want to have all these different resources and collect all these different resources, and we're going to go out as a group with our families, in groups of really two families per vehicle, so our family and another family in one vehicle and then another family, and we went all in this kind of local area within our, where we live, and we just went around with our kids and we said let's pray and ask God to show us, you know, how we can, you know, give to those that are in need and really have an opportunity to share the gospel. And it was. It was scary and it was unknown, but the stories that came out of that especially for our kids, you know, our kids are, all you know, really 14 and under but having that opportunity for them to experience getting out there and trying to share with those that have needs and and finding an opportunity to talk about the love of Jesus, you know, and then being able to cut back and debrief that as a whole group, that was something that really did supercharge our group together. And then there was another day, too, where we just had an opportunity to again jump into a house build and where we were building a home together. For that we're going to take down to Mexico and doing that together as a team. Again, it just really brings about such great freshness for your group. So that is number two on ways that you can inject some freshness into your group is turn the focus outward for an intentional season of your group.

Speaker 1:

The last suggestion that I have to help keep your group fresh is to stretch yourself in new ways. This is something that maybe you're going to need help with. You may want to talk to your small group pastor about this, or talk to other groups about, maybe, some of the things that they're doing, but there may be things that as a group, you have not been doing but are opportunities for you to really stretch you in your faith. These could be moments where you're going to take extended time of prayer. It's easy to kind of, you know, wrap it up and say amen when it feels all quiet in the room, but maybe there's going to be not necessarily a when everybody's quiet we'll say amen, but, like we're going to take a certain amount of time, we're going to take an hour. We're just going to open up, we're going to start praying and we really want to be prayerful for an hour and even if it's quiet, we're going to just stay quiet and we're going to listen and pray Again. We talked about fasting already. Maybe there's opportunities to step into fasting. Maybe that's something you've never done before.

Speaker 1:

You know, the Bible talks about something that many times, when the people, the disciples, gathered, you know, at the end of the last supper, it says that they ate the bread and the wine, and then they sang a hymn, and so maybe it's singing songs together. Yes, you do that in your church and you know you got the big band, you got the lights, but have you ever thought about actually singing songs together in your home as a group? And I promise you it's really awkward, it's really strange to do that unless your whole group is, like amazingly, phenomenally musically gifted. But it's actually really fun because you're in this place where everything is stripped down and you have a chance to sing a praise to the Lord collectively together as just an offering to him. So those are ways that you could be stretched in your actions.

Speaker 1:

And there also may be studies that are going to stretch you, studies and topics that you feel like are beyond your typical scope. Um, maybe there are topics that aren't relevant to you right now but they speak into your stage of life 10 years from now. Um, maybe you step into that and get ahead of it and start learning about things that you're not familiar with, but that's going to cause you to really be engaged in your mind and really be engaged in conversation, to seek more information about those things in your personal time throughout the week. Or maybe it's a Bible study that you've typically avoided because it's confusing, it's hard. Bible study that you've typically avoided because it's confusing, it's hard. Like you, look at the book of Leviticus, you know that's the. That's the typical book that a lot of people talk about as the scary book that people want to skip over. But what would it look like for you as a group to say you know what? Hey, we, we believe that Leviticus is God's word. We believe that all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching and correcting, and training and righteousness. So we're going to read Leviticus and we're going to dive into it and we're really going to kind of get after it and that's going to stretch us and cause us to think and cause us to really try to prompt conversation. Maybe we do extra study, we pull some commentaries or talk to people, some scholars, about it, and that's going to cause us to actually be stretched. So, whether it's through an action like prayer and fasting or singing hymns, or maybe it's intellectually, in your understanding, through a book of the Bible or some aspect of theology that you want to understand, and those are just ways that really can help you feel fresh, because it's you taking things outside of your comfort zone and when you're outside of your comfort zone you got all sorts of new emotions. You're in the great, wide unknown and you're experiencing all this kind of new stuff. So that's a final way to keep it fresh.

Speaker 1:

I did want to add one more. This is not included in my list of three because it's not necessarily how to keep your longstanding group fresh. It's just a suggestion for groups that have those longstanding years put together and they need some freshness. That may be and you have to pray about this and think about this that may be a unique prompting from the Lord that you know what. It's time for all of you as a group to go and launch new groups.

Speaker 1:

Okay, for those of us that have been parts of groups for a long time, it's scary to think about disbanding because these are your close friends, these are the people that you've done life with. Nobody knows me like these people do. I can't imagine myself not being in a group with them. But at the same time, having been in that group for so long and experienced the great blessings and benefits of that group and having been a part of so many different conversations over the years, each and every one of you in that group is qualified and equipped and experienced to go and launch another group. And, who knows, maybe your group of five different couples has a chance to then go out and each launch your own group of five couples and you have 25 couples that are now engaged in study and community together, because your one group decided to take a faithful action to really go out and uh and start new groups, and you could still have that chance to come together and share what God's doing and keep that group thread going.

Speaker 1:

You know, but those are things that are kingdom ideas and so maybe, as you think about, maybe, we're feel like it's getting a little stagnant, it's getting a little stale. Maybe, consider, maybe this is the Lord's prompting us to say, hey, maybe it's time that we really launch some new groups, you know, and be together and be, uh, commission one another, towards, towards going and doing that. So that'd be another thing that I want to encourage you, um, to think about in that place. And, uh, that's a, that's a. I will say that's a. It's a hot, a sticky subject Sometimes. I'll mention that to groups sometimes and, uh, they don't really want to hear it because they love their group and I don't blame them. I've been with my group for a long time for, you know, 13, 14 years, and I can't imagine not being with them. So those are some ideas, keeping it fresh. But wherever you are in your group again. God's doing great things and he's and he's using your group to impact your life, to impact your family's life and to really impact the kingdom. So we are thankful for that.

Speaker 1:

Well, that wraps up this episode for today. Uh, we look forward to kind of coming back to you for another episode, next time, uh, with more new, fresh content that hopefully will help you in your group. But before we go, I want to bless you from Philippians, chapter one, verses nine through 11. So let me say this that it says and this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes. Amen. Thanks you guys. We'll see you next time.