How to start a group

You only get to start a growth group once each year, so it pays to make the most of it. When the group begins, you and your group members are motivated and keen to make it an excellent year together. This moment is like when you’re about to catch a wave at the beach—if you swim hard just as it’s breaking, you can catch that energy and ride that wave.

So what do you need to do to catch that wave of growth group enthusiasm? What does it mean to ‘swim hard’ at this time? Here are six things:

1. Check in with God about your own spiritual health. This is the most important thing about starting a group. Your relationship with God will have the greatest impact on your group, whether you’re aware of it or not. Spend time in prayer and the Bible, and think about habits you want to set up for the year. You also need to repent of the sins you’ve gotten used to in your life (especially over the holiday season). Make those changes, and invite your spouse/friends/family to pray for you and encourage you. Lastly, now’s the time to review your own reasons and motivations for leading. Have you subconsciously drifted into leading out of habit, convenience or bitter necessity? Get rid of these old motivations and enthuse yourself at the prospect of seeing people and the gospel grow through your ministry.
2. Make sure you’re clear with your pastor about what your growth group is, what it’s for and where it fits in your church’s plans and strategies. You should also be clear on their expectations of you as a leader, and your hopes or expectations of them. Growth group leading is a team ministry, so getting these various expectations sorted at the start of the year is going to make for a happy partnership.
3. Find a time and place for your group. The dream might be to meet on a Tuesday night at your wealthy friend’s place with its spacious lounge room, $5000 coffee machine and water views. However reality doesn’t often correspond to the dream (and maybe that’s just as well!). You’ll probably need to find a balance between what’s available, what’s going to work for you, and what the needs of the church are at this time. For example, you might like the idea of hosting but still choose to meet somewhere else that’s better able to accommodate a potentially large group. Praying daily for God to provide a great venue is entirely appropriate.
4. Work out things with your co-leader. If you’re lucky enough to have a co-leader make sure you get in touch with them and work out expectations and as many details as you can. You’ll need to communicate more frequently at this point until the group gets into a routine.
5. Recruit members. This step will vary from church to church, but usually you’ll be able to recruit at least a few core members. These should be friends or people you get along with well. They should be the sort of members who’ll be encouraging and committed during the year. When you’ve got people like this in your group you’ll be better able to welcome people who, for whatever reason, might be a little harder to love. 
6. Launch the group. Make a big effort to get everyone there for the first meeting. A lot will happen on this first night/morning/afternoon, so you want everyone there to be part of it. This is the time to talk about the group’s hopes and various expectations. Most leaders have been at a ‘first meeting’ several times in previous groups, so you can use what strategies, games and social activities you’ve seen work well. Colin Marshall’s got a great chapter on this in Growth Groups called ‘Starting a Growth Group’. Despite the time pressures of this first meeting, it’s worth opening the Bible at some point. This is not only good for its own sake; it demonstrates that this group values the Bible and will be studying it even if it seems inconvenient, awkward or time consuming.

That’s a lot to consider at this time of the year (which will probably be busy for all sorts of other reasons). But remember: you’re trying to swim hard to catch that wave. By God’s goodness hopefully you’re in for a great year of leading God’s people, growing together, and seeing more people know Jesus.