The 6 Types of Small Groups in Youth Ministry
Harnessing the power of small groups in your student ministry.
Accountability Groups
In an accountability group, there is an agreed upon
set of rules or commitments that one is seeking to live out. There may
or may not be a formal group leader. The folks that participate in these
groups are bonded in their common desire to live by the rules of the
group because of the hope that doing so will produce change or
transformation in their life. I’ve heard these groups called Covenant
Discipleship groups, Fight Clubs and Life groups (rare name) in youth
ministry. Typically these groups don’t have an explicit purpose of
raising up a leader nor of generating new groups.
Recovery or Therapeutic Groups
In a recovery or therapeutic group, the people gather
around a common goal of recovering from a traumatic life event and/or
addictions. The group typically has a formal group leader that has a
unique set of skills to be able to help people gain the resources and
skills to heal from the trauma or addiction. These groups don’t have an
explicit purpose of generating new groups. Some of them do have an
explicit purpose of nurturing and raising up leaders with the skills to
help the members of the group. An example of a youth ministry group in
this category is Celebrate Recovery groups like Hurts, Habits and
Hang-Ups.
Bible Teaching Groups
These types of groups are by far the most popular
small groups in youth ministry. The group gathers, typically around age
and gender affinity, for the explicit purpose of “learning” about the
Bible from a group leader who teaches them lessons. The group leader
typically has a conversational teaching style but can incorporate many
different teaching methods (storying, object lessons, group activities,
self-directed exercises outside group, etc.). Some of these groups have
an explicit purpose of raising up student leaders to teach the small
group. Most of these types of groups are not explicitly working to
multiply. However, multiplication tends to come from a large group
gathering that attracts more teenagers and thus increases the number of
participants in the small group, making it necessary for the group to
split and multiply. I’ve heard youth ministry folks call these groups
Bible Study groups, small groups, (Insert Youth Ministry Name) groups,
WORD groups, Grow groups, etc.
Holy Reading Groups
These groups are a growing trend in youth ministry.
What I mean by “holy reading” is a way of reading the Bible as a whole
group that allows is to be authoritative and formative for the group.
Others have called this a “communal hermeneutic.” Another way of saying
it is that the group is trying to find a way of reading the Bible with,
as Alan Jacobs says, the “hermeneutics of love.” A holy reading of the
Bible is characterized by reading the text multiple times because one
believes that they should not just consume the text. They read the text
with humility and doing justice to the text by searching for the truth
in it. The group typically has a leader who is modeling this way of
reading the scripture for the whole group. The purpose of the group is
to acquire the virtues of Christ as they read and practice the scripture
together. These groups typically are seeking to multiply by inviting
others into the groups in order to learn from the scripture with them.
I’ve heard youth workers refer to these groups as Community groups, but
most who practice it simply call them small groups.
Affinity Groups & Social (fellowship) Groups
These groups typically gather around common interests
that may include wanting to build friendships, explore a particular
activity (biking, art, softball, paint ball, etc.). These groups
typically have a leader who is organizing the gatherings. The purpose of
these groups is to attract folks to the youth ministry and/or build
relationships with people in the group. These groups can have the goal
of multiplying, but most of the time they don’t. Leaders are raised up
in these groups to take over the organizing of the gatherings.
Activist Groups
These groups exist because of some social issue or
community need. There may or may not be a leader for these groups. The
purpose of the group is to work to bring funding, awareness and help to
the social issue or community need that the group is seeking to remedy
or alleviate. These groups can multiply within a youth ministry, but
they typically build from small to large groups if they grow. I’ve heard
youth workers refer to these groups as Justice groups, Freedom Fighters
and Good Neighbor groups.
Questions to Consider:
How do you get your group on?What type/s of small group/s do you subscribe to?
Is there a type of small group that you do with youth that isn’t represented here? Please describe it in the comments.
Paul Sheneman is an author,
speaker and youth pastor. He serves with the Macedonia Methodist Church
in Ohio. He drinks way too much coffee for his own good. His main
interest is exploring Christian formation. You can follow most of his
ramblings on his blog at www.discipleshipremix.com or on Twitter
@PaulSheneman. More from Paul Sheneman or visit Paul at http://www.discipleshipremix.com
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar