WELCOME to your role as a Life group leader!
Thank you for making disciples
Thank you for serving as a Life Group Leader at Macquarie Life Church. Gathering people in Life Groups to connect with others and together go deeper in their understanding and love for God is key to making disciples. It is what Jesus did. How well does The Chosen depict this!
Fellowship strengthens our faith
Throughout the New Testament we read about the important role fellowship played in strengthening people’s faith. Here is some wonderful teaching from Calvary Chapel on how fellowship helps to build our faith. In preparing to start your Life Group I recommend that you have a listen – you will hear God’s heart for fellowship.
Questions to consider when starting a Life Group
Why do you feel led to start a Life Group?
What is the purpose of your Life Group?
What will your Life Group do to grow spiritually?
Is there a book of The Bible that the group would like to study?
Consider starting a Prayer and Praise Journal to build faith by recording God’s faithfulness
Who will you invite to join your Life Group?
Do the people in your Life Group know their Spiritual Gifts? If not consider doing the online Spiritual gifts test or doing some teaching on spiritual gifts.
How can you help the people grow in their gifting? (eg assign responsibilities accordingly - teaching; social gatherings; hospitality; communications; administration)
How will you share the leadership in your Life Group and grow other leaders? (eg some groups rotate their leadership each term)
How will your Life Group ‘Love your neighbour’?
Who has God put on your heart to pray for salvation. As a Life Group are we committed to praying for them?
Is there someone connected with our Life Group that we can show practical love to? How can we do this as a group? Who in our Life Group will facilitate this activity?
Is there a Mission's project at church that our Life Group can specifically support?
Is each member of our group ready and equipped to share their testimony when the Holy Spirit prompts? If not, how can we as a group equip and encourage each other in this area?
Life Group Leader Support
We have developed various support processes and resources to assist you in this role.
Communication Channels
Whats App chat group – weekly messages on upcoming church events; life group resources and a word of encouragement
Support Check-ins – every six months (either phone call or before/after Sunday service chat)
The Life Group support team is available via emails (wendyr@macquarielifechurch.com.au) or contacting the church office.
Life Group Study Resources
Pastoral Care Tip Sheets (Eg Grief, Boundaries and Crisis)
List of Library resources (eg DVDs, workbooks) - all available in the church library next to Lecture room 3.
Training / Support
Training/connection opportunities happen once a term. Check out the Key Dates for LG Leaders webpage.
First meeting support – if needed we can provide an experienced Life Group leader to attend your first couple of meetings to provide that extra level of support and encouragement.
Administration
Our Life Group records are maintained in the Planning Centre Database. This database has the facility to email your group. If you would like to know more about this database, please contact the Life Group support team.
PRAYER
Prayer is essential to all we do as disciples of Jesus. Life Groups are a wonderful place for people to learn about the power of the two or three gathering to pray in Jesus Name. Click here to find our monthly prayer points, upcoming church prayer meetings and other prayer-related activities including training courses.
We have a fantastic course on prayer – prayercourse.org - that we encourage our Life Groups to do. All the material is available online (youtube) including a leaders guide.
Top TIPS FOR HEALTHY LIFE GROUPS
Here are five tried and tested tips for leading a life group in a sustainable and fruitful way ….
Meet potential members before inviting them to attend your group. A catch-up in the church café before or after a Sunday service is a convenient way to meet and get to know a little bit about the person. It is preferable that a person has completed Thrive before joining a Life Group.
Share the load. God has brought these people into your Life Group for a purpose – to grow, not to only consume. Allocate roles to help the group function – eg hosting; communications; teaching. Consider doing a group study to learn about the Spiritual gifts God has given each person. Then look for ways to actively develop these gifts within your Life Group.
Give God space to move. Don’t plan/structure the meeting so tightly that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to move. Be flexible, not every meeting will be the same – God will have a different plan for each one – a plan that meets each member’s needs perfectly.
Lean in to church events. If your group is a women's group, encourage your members to come as a group the Macquarie Women events. Likewise, if it is a men's group. If there is a call out for volunteers, encourage your group to volunteer as a group – there is nothing like serving together to more deeply knit peoples’ hearts.
Reach out. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. People need to see, hear and experience Him. As a group plan some specific events/activities that provide a space for others to experience the love of Jesus – perhaps a social event – full of fun and encouragement. Or perhaps someone in your group knows someone in need – and your group could respond to fulfil that need.
A final word of encouragement
Sometimes when you are serving as a Life Group Leader it will feel like it’s all too much, perhaps only one or two people turn up to a meeting, perhaps discussion is stilted, and it seems like people aren’t growing. In those moments I encourage you to remember these words of the Apostle Paul, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV).
Trust that God is working in the unseen.
We are continually looking for ways to support you as you serve in this role of Life Group leader, so if you need any help or have any suggestions on how we can improve our support please let us know. The Life Group support team is available via emails (wendyr@macquarielifechurch.com.au) or contacting the church office.