Welcome

New Group Leader,

Welcome to leadership! I am excited about what God will do through you in the months and possibly years to come. Group Leadership is an opportunity to be used by God in the lives of men who thirst for the Word of God. It is also a season of training and preparation for all that God has for you in the future. I hope that leadership is spiritually stretching for you personally as well.

Before we jump into a little philosophy, let me make sure we have some the basic times down:

Class night: We start at 6:45. The opening talk goes for about 30 minutes. Then we go into discussion.

Saturday mornings: We meet from 6:30 am - 8:00 am at Abiding Savior and online.

There are three main areas of growth and training that you will focus on during your season as a Group Leader that connect to the mission of BSF which is “Global, in-depth Bible classes producing passionate commitment to Christ, His Word, and His Church.”

  1. Handling the Word of God

  2. Shepherding Men

  3. Facilitating Group Discussion

Handling the Word of God

On Saturday mornings we will discuss what we have learned from the Bible. This will take a variety of forms from homiletics to mapping how we will approach the questions during discussion. At the core is you spending time in the Bible.

Shepherding Men

Your job as a Group Leader is to prepare a space for men to talk about their discoveries and listen to the learning of others in a welcoming and safe environment. That work is by no means limited to the 50 minutes you have with your men on class night. It includes coming alongside men and providing accountability and support for the hard work of studying the Bible. Almost all men desire to be challenged and encouraged in a task. You are to lead your men to a “passionate commitment to Christ, His Word, and His Church.”

Facilitating Group Discussion

Sitting in a circle and talking about the Bible appears a simple task. It is not. Most men take two to three years to develop competency in this skill. I don’t say that to discourage you but to put your efforts in context. It takes time. Enjoy the ride. We will spend time each Saturday morning preparing you for this effort.

As you work your way through this page and inventory the task at hand, I am reminded of David’s psalm that I would like you to remember:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.

May it be so for you!

Please read the below article entitled “A Primer for New Group Leaders.”

A Primer for new Group Leaders

In BSF we don't see anyone in leadership as being "a volunteer". We see everyone as being someone God has called into leadership to serve Him in BSF. This means several things: we are here to serve the Lord; we are here to grow in the Lord; and God now takes responsibility for equipping us for the work He has called us to.

 No one expects God to call perfect people, or perfectly equipped people. He has never done that before (try and find one) and He is not starting now. No one here is perfect. This means that one aspect built into BSF leadership is having God grow us through our mistakes.

Your new opportunity as a Group Leader (GL)

God has called you and given you an opportunity to have an eternal impact on a group of men each year. He has called you to be developed into a servant-leader. Your main role is to be a conduit for God to facilitate spiritual growth, both yours and others.

At this point God is taking on the responsibility to develop you for your role through BSF leadership training and experience. The biggest thing you need to bring is genuineness. It is important to enter this in a clear sense of dependency on God. Your biggest tool is prayer.

Your main goal is to help create a cohesive community out of a group of unconnected men. This occurs as you work to create a safe environment in which spiritual growth can occur.

You will be able to tell that this is happening as you observe your group. You will see the men engage in your discussion and begin to prayer for each other as the year progresses.

The Men God has Called You to Serve

God has selected a specific group of men for you to shepherd who will most likely be strangers to each other. Their common ground is their interest in studying God's Word. They are primed to be shaped into a cohesive community of men.

What they need from you is:

  • Genuineness

  • Enthusiasm and energy

  • Preparation

  • Management of the discussion

  • Generation and maintenance of a safe environment where they can talk freely and stay on track with the task

  • Friendship

  • Prayer

 

The Leaders Meeting

This is where you will receive both training and participate in the leadership community.

Here is what to expect:

6:30 - 6:35

We open with a five-minute talk centered on a doctrine in this week’s text.


6:35 - 7:20

We then move to our discussion of the lesson. You will be a part of a group of 8 to 12 men who discuss the lesson together each week.

7:20 - 7:50

After the discussion, we train in our job alikes. Group Leaders meet with Group Leaders, Children Leaders meet with Children Leaders, and Administration Leaders meet Administration Leaders.

7:50 - 8:00

We end our morning by praying in prayer cells.

The Leaders Circle will become a community for you along with your Discussion Group. You will come to love this group and our time together. We are all developing together each week for the work God has called us to. None of us has arrived, no one does it perfect.

 

Some Basic Tools

It is important to have a plan for how to prepare for leading your group. You will probably need to rearrange your personal weekly schedule to adjust for the timing of our Leaders Meeting and the extra tasks God has given you to do.

Lesson Preparation

  • As the week progresses, section your workload as your schedule allows:

    • Tuesday - Do the first 1/2 of your lesson

    • Wednesday - Do the second 1/2 of your lesson

    • Thursday - Do your Homiletics/Discussion Preparation Guide (We will teach you how to do this.)

    • Friday - Plan out the movement through the lesson for class night (more on that later). Doing this before our Leaders Meeting will enable you to compare your plan to what happens Saturday morning and be able to adapt or adjust.

    • Read the notes before you come to Leaders Meeting

  • Saturday - Leaders Meeting

Shepherding Responsibilities

Another task during the week is contacting the men in you group. Everyone finds a way to do this so it works for them best. We will work on ways to do that as we move along. The goal is to shepherd your men well. Here are a couple of suggestions:

  • Contact any men who were absent on Monday either Monday night or Tuesday night to let them know they were missed.

  • Use all the tools at your disposal. Text, email, phone, and social media are all at your finger tips. Use these to love on your men and challenge them in their walk.

Homiletics/Discussion Preparation Guide

We will give you tools for breaking down and analyzing the passage and then applying that to the leading of the questions. More on that on Saturday mornings.

 

Having a Great Discussion

Your role is to help the men interact with each other. It is not to clarify or educate anyone on "the answer" to a question or what the passage means. Resist the pull to be the answer man. At times it may be more productive to leave them wondering than to give them "the answer". If that happens, pray that they continue to dig on their own.

If you are talking, and they are not, you have not reached the goal.



 
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