Lead Your Small Group Like A Ninja Warrior

Your pastor has asked you to lead a small group, and you want to be the best darn small group leader you can be.  This short guide will give you all you need to lead your small group like a ninja warrior.

Small groups go by various names  – care groups, home groups, community groups, parents with children under the age of 1.2 years groups, hipster  groups, geezer groups. By design these groups are small so we can practice the biblical “one another’s” e.g., speak the truth in love to one another, serve snack to one another, sing out of tune to one another, etc.

As the ninja leader, it’s your responsibility to send out the Bible passage and discussion questions ahead of time.  Ask questions that apply to people’s lives, such as, “Who are the locusts in the book of Revelation?  Who are the locusts where you work? In your school?  In your neighborhood?”

As important as the discussion questions are, even more important are the refreshments, or “Snack” as they have come to be called in Western Pennsylvania. Years ago people would ask, “Who’s bringing the snacks next time?”  But now the English language has deteriorated (at least in Western PA) and people ask, “Who’s bringing snack?”  Geezer that I am, I chime in “You mean snacks! Not snack. Who’s bringing the SNACKS?”

It’s crucial to bring the right kind of snack. It should be gluten-free, lactose-free, caffeine-free, organic, low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.  In the good old days we’d  bring death chips, like Fritos, to dip in death dip – extra high-fat French onion dip with extra cholesterol added.

Devising a proper snack schedule is even more important than having the discussion questions in advance. So at your first small group be sure to have a sign-up sheet for the next 3 years of snack.

Hopefully you have at least one musician in your group to lead worship, like a guy who knows three guitar chords or a classically trained pianist. Gathering to sing around a piano is always fun.  There’s usually one person who belts out the songs at the top of her lungs and another guy who always sings a baritone bass part as if he’s in the Gaither band.  It’s best to be right between them.

If you don’t have any musicians, you can sing along with CDs, which are always 3 keys too high. Nothing like a whole group singing falsetto.

Because no one will know who the locusts in the book of Revelation are, prepare for some awkward silences during the discussion time.  If no one speaks for more than 10 minutes, then by all means, as the ninja leader, call on someone. I’d suggest calling on a wife to share one of her husband’s weaknesses.  This always gets the discussion going in a good direction.

After discussion you want to have a time of prayer. Hopefully a number of wives have shared about their lazy no good slob husbands so you can pray for them.  And be sure to keep the prayer time short so you have plenty of time for snack.