small groups | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts Teach the Purposes in Small Group

New this week at Simply Youth Ministry – Plugged In – a DVD series for small groups to help them get the purposes. If you’re looking to instill evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and worship in your students, this might be something to check out from Doug Fields.

As Christians, we’re designed to be connected to God at all times–to be “plugged in” to the source. In this five-week, DVD-based Small Group curriculum, Doug Fields takes on the challenge of getting students interested and excited about staying connected to God. Every student is going to blaze an incredible path in their life, and this series will show them how they can be “plugged in” every step of the way–and the amazing difference it will make.

JG

Add Comment March 31, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 4 Connecting Ideas for 2009

In part 1 yesterday, I listed 5 equipping strategies we were challenged to dream about for 2009. Here’s the list of 4 connecting ideas that Kurt and I came up with, too:

CONNECTING

SSM Online — We want to launch an online church experience for students. The Student Ministry internet campus will feature live chat, a series archive, live service streaming and immediate reponse through pastoral volunteers. It will be enhanced by a stronger online community presence on Facebook and other social media as well.

Text-based response cards – We want to do away with printed response cards and go strictly digital. For example, we would use for High School Ministry a number like 949-HSM-TEXT for baptisms, salvations, communication and more. People could text the number a keyword and it would automatically send them the info they were looking for. It could also get updates on trips and arrival time status after an event, too.

Parent Campus Connection Nights — Our goal would be to find parents in the same life stage and with students in the same class or better yet the same school. It would be a connection point to help them sharing the experiences together and sharing the load of caring for the school. They would spend time connecting together, but also in prayer and spreading the word about projects or initiatives that would concern the Christian parent.

ThumbSWIPE- One of the biggest ways we can care for our students is launching a comprehensive weekend digital check-in and follow-up system. The system uses thumb scans to track attendance and automatically generates reports, emails and texts to those who haven’t attended in a preset number of weekends.

JG

Add Comment February 12, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Ways to Build Long Term Volunteers

Yesterday I met with a couple of our staff to talk over volunteers, and came up with 3 guiding principles for helping take our great volunteers and turn them into long-term youth ministry gurus. The goal is to retain more youth workers, eliminating the stress of finding more leaders and eliminating the pain of high turnover and immature leadership. Keeping volunteers long term has a ripple effect in your youth ministry, both good and bad.

So in light of that, here are 3 ways to increase retention on your volunteer team:

1) Build Community
When a leader is connected, they stick. While life stage change is inevitable and there are good reasons to take seasons off from volunteering in ministry, good leaders build community with their volunteers as they share the calling of youth ministry together. There have been countless meals, celebrations, counseling and life poured back and forth. Evaluate your current ministry to volunteers – how much time to you spend with them? Do you know them? Have you gained weight together over a few too many meals? Have you journeyed with them through a loss? There has to be accessibility to you and leadership from you.

2) Plan Ahead
Every last minute bomb you drop causes destruction on a volunteer/ministry relationship. And despite our best intentions, many good volunteers have been taken out in the crossfire of our lack of planning ahead. Effective planning leads to an easy pathway of participation and allows them to plan life around their volunteer opportunities, not the other way around.

3) Move Them Toward Self-Directed Ministry
Volunteers typically move from their initial interview to directed work in a particular ministry area (work at a table at a weekend service, lead a small groups, etc). This is good for a while, but for long term leaders the goal must be for them to be self-motivated within the vision and framework of the ministry as a whole. They take action when they see a need in the ministry. They call, text, respond without leadership because they are the leadership.

JG

9 View Comments January 15, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: What to Do With a Frustrated Volunteer

This great article on handling conflict with a team member was written by Josh Johnson, High School Minister at Westover Hills Church in Austin, TX. Thanks for submitting the guest post!

Volunteers are as different as two sides of a coin. Some are great…actually if we’re honest; some are more qualified to be the point person than we are! There are also volunteers whom we dream of graduating along with their senior; we wake up with tears in our eyes because it’ll be the greatest “dream come true” moment ever. With that in mind, there will be times in ministry when those who also feel called to ministry (volunteers) don’t quite see eye-to-eye with you. Regardless of what the issue is, it’s important to remember teamwork and Colossians 3:15b, “since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Here are 5 ideas to help you AND your volunteer move forward and hopefully closer.

1. Listen to them. Many times the volunteer just wants to be heard. They feel called to ministry. They feel they’re a member of the ministry team and simply want to share their ideas with you. Hopefully with a team of volunteers you’re not the only one God is speaking to!

(A little aside: Avoid email. It’s so difficult to read tone, communicate passion…and…LISTEN through email. There’s nothing like a face-to-face. This always communicates commitment, care, and teamwork.)

2. Share your vision. Sometimes volunteers get left out of the decision making processes and are unclear as to why you’ve implemented something new or are heading in a new direction. After meeting with and listening to your volunteer it may become clear that they’re not on the same page as you. Take the time to communicate the heart behind the change and call them to relay the same positive heart to those they’re involved with.

3. Include someone else. That sounds biblical doesn’t it? Sometimes, even after listening and sharing the vision, a volunteer may still be adamant, hard hearted, or divisive. At this point bring in another person, if for anything to help mediate.

4. You’re the Leader. It’s your call. You’re the one that the leadership is looking to to lead, provide direction, purpose, safety, etc. etc. etc. Their may come a time when you need to stand up, be the leader, and call your volunteer to follow.

5. Be Thankful. You could be doing this ministry alone and frustrated. At least with volunteers the worst you’ll be is frustrated. Remember that friction means growth. Thank God for leading others to partner with you in your ministry!

JG

Add Comment October 29, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Letter to Small Group Leaders After the 1st Night

Here’s the first draft of a letter I’m sending our small group leaders today – now that we’ve knocked out the first night of small groups. If you can mine anything from it for your ministry, go for it!

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to celebrate now that we’re on the other side of our 1st night of small groups!

I’m so proud of you and excited about how well it went on both nights of small groups in The Refinery. We’re making some minor adjustments to next week, and getting ready for a great small group year. God is up to something! Here’s 4 things I’m thinking about the day after I wanted to share with you:

Family dinners are the best
Easily this was my favorite part of the night! Not just because of the food (sorry it was so healthy, ha-ha) but because I really felt like we got to connect together and bond as a team. The first 45 minutes of the night in the diner is SO big. I hope you got to connect with your coach and some other fantastic youth workers right in the trenches with you. It’s the perfect time for getting your questions and keeping the lines of communication open.

Student curriculum starts next week
The “meet and greet” is behind us, and the “getting to know you” night is in the can. Next week we’ll start with dinner then the large group teaching time and welcome for just a few minutes. All of the students will be given their materials and you’ll get a chance to dive into Bible study. Remember that the key to small groups is largely fellowship (life together) and discipleship (helping them grow on their own).

Attendance software also starts next week
We’re locking in the rosters and any final changes right now – so next week you should expect an email from us that reminds you to fill out the online attendance form. Just click the email, click who was there and hit submit. Super easy – we’ll do a quick refresher training on it at dinner next week, too.

Now is the time for last-minute changes
We’re about to lock in the roster and your small group meeting locations for the next 10 weeks in The Refinery. If you have any changes to your group, concerns about size, the ability to add a few students from the waiting list, want a new place to meet – now is the time to let the office team know so we’re 100% finalized for next week.

You are loved – so honored to share the calling of youth ministry with you – thanks for loving God and liking students.

JG

Add Comment September 25, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Small Groups Launch Tonight

Tonight we’re launching our school year-long small groups program in our High School Ministry – the mission is that it would fulfill the primary purpose of fellowship and secondary purpose of discipleship. We want people to connect in relationship, centered around life and biblical teaching. Tonight is essentially a “getting to know you” with some fun elements thrown into the mix. Here’s the three big changes (here’s all of the posts that mention ‘small groups’ if you’re interested, too )we’re launching tonight and tomorrow night:

Leader dinner – instead of a separate monthly meeting time or another scheduled time of training, we’re meeting a little early each week for dinner, training, encouragement, vision and prayer for about 45 minutes before small groups start. I’m counting on this being a big win in developing a TEAM.

Online attendance - instead of not knowing the pulse of our small group attendance, we’re introducing churchteams.com to the team. It sends out an email to the small group leaders, and all they have to do is check “yes, we met” and put a checkbox by the students that attended. They can drop in notes as well that will be sent to their group, coach and/or the SG team.

Meeting in The Refinery for the first 10 weeks – well go back to meeting in homes soon, but for now we’re meeting in different spots all over the new building. We’ll start with a short time of welcome, announcements and large group teaching, then quickly jump into the groups.

Here we go!

JG

Add Comment September 23, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Live Out Loud Small Group Videos

There’s a new resource over at SimplyYouthMinistry.com you should check out – Live Out Loud is anew 6-week small group video resource featuring Doug Fields. Looks good!

Want to motivate your students to take Jesus outside the walls of the church? Then take them on this 6-week small group video journey with Doug Fields. In Love Out Loud, Doug challenges students to put their faith into action in ways that are meaningful, practical and godly. And with everything already written up (and tested!) for you, this is an easy-to-implement way for you to help students embrace living a gospel lifestyle, not just talking about it.

JG

Add Comment September 17, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Small Group Format Change

I’m excited that next year we get to try something really fresh in HSM in 2008-2009. Today I announced a cool new direction for our small groups in the Fall – we’re doing them in The Refinery for 10 weeks with a unified curriculum. We’ll jump back into homes after the Christmas break, but we need to spend some time getting our arms around the program and unify and build community in our volunteers.

The nights (both Tuesday and Wednesday) will consist of a leader welcome (w/food, naturally), vision, training and encouragement. We’ll go over the night and spend a few minutes in prayer together. Then we jump into our main meeting room for opening announcements, prayer and maybe an overview of the night, then spread out all over the building for small groups. Groups end at the same time give or take, so students can mingle and play until the end of the night.

We’re also going to beta-test the first year of a 4-year small group material put out by Simply Youth Ministry. We’re in the early stages of co-creating a 4-year ideal world curriculum from freshman to senior years of high school. Couldn’t be more excited about the upcoming shift in location, community and curriculum!

JG

Add Comment June 10, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts 4 Places to Recruit Volunteers

There’s a bunch of sources for volunteers -I thought I would list 4 of my favorites to help spur you on to a successful youth ministry filled with volunteers. We’re always working on this one, too!

1) Adult Services – when was the last time you were on the adult service stage recruiting volunteers. While this one is obvious, sometimes the obvious is ignored. Bulletin insert? Promo video? Take some time and create something special so that when you do get stage time, you make it count.

2) Parent Meetings - Youth workers often shy away from parents as volunteers, but in all honesty, there’s some great youth worker parents out there. I do think you have to find the right person (not the overprotecting bike-helmet moms), don’t take just anyone and especially be leery of the ones that are a little too eager.

3) Retreats – there’s often a moment at the end of a conference or retreat where people make a commitment. They take a step of growth and accept a challenge. I want our student ministry to be right there with an HSM card in hand and have us ready for that conversation. Check the church calendar or website and look for these types of opportunities.

4) College Ministry – why not drop into your college ministry next week and see if you can’t round up some new small group leaders. Don’t expect one time recruitment to be successful, you might have to develop a relationship of trust together up some great students. And remember this will be hit and miss, college students have tough schedules and can get flaky. But the star volunteers you will discover will be worth it.

JG

7 View Comments April 2, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Tend or Feed?

Interesting discussion over the past couple of days about small groups. Before Saddleback I’ve mainly used small groups for discipleship (like a Sunday School replacement, really) where the Saddleback classic model has always had them squarely in the fellowship camp. I heard that the philosophy of the small group can be compared to that of a shepherd, and I loved the concept. Basically there’s two schools of thought on the subject:

TEND - Fellowship is what you’re going after. You want students to be known, cared for and in a adult mentoring relationship. Like a shepherd, you loving guide and direct sheep through the dangers of life in the wild.

FEED - Discipleship is the key. Students need to be instructed in the ways of the Word and shown God’s direction for their lives. Some personal application is made, but the key here is to spread out a big feast.

I’m not sure if there’s a “correct” answer in this, as I wrap my mind around it I’m beginning to think both rank on the important scale. Shepherds need to care for their sheep and protect them from danger, as well as allow them to eat and grow. Small group volunteers should probably have a firm grasp of both methods. Thoughts?

JG