Free · Certificate included
Small Group Leader Essentials
Lead a healthy, welcoming small group that grows in faith and friendship.
What you’ll learn
- Facilitate warm, inclusive group discussion instead of lecturing
- Build safety and a clear confidentiality covenant in your group
- Handle the over-talker and draw out the silent member graciously
- Know the line between caring for someone and counseling them — and when to refer
- Raise an apprentice and multiply a healthy group
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
You are a facilitator, not a lecturer
The most common mistake new small group leaders make is believing the group rises or falls on how well they teach.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 2
Asking questions that open people up
If facilitation is the skill, good questions are the tool.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 3
Building safety and a confidentiality covenant
People only go deep where they feel safe.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 4
The over-talker and the silent member
Every group has them: the person who answers every question (often before anyone else can), and the person who hasn’t spoken in three weeks.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Care vs. counseling: knowing when to refer
Sooner or later, someone in your group will be in real pain — a marriage falling apart, depression, an addiction, a trauma resurfacing.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 6
Multiplying a healthy group
A healthy group grows — and growth eventually means multiplication.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 7
Putting it together: lead your group well
Let’s walk a real night. You lead a group of nine. Tonight you’ve got a quiet newcomer, your usual talker, and a member who lingers afterward looking heavy. Make…
4 min Interactive
Sources & further reading
- Lifeway Research — 3 Things a Small Group Leader is Not
- Lifeway Research — 8 Tips for Handling the Talker in Your Small Group
- Lifeway Research — 4 Traits of an Effective Small Group Discussion Question
- Smallgroups.com — Small Group Models & Multiplying Your Group
- Saddleback Church — Small Groups (HOST model and group health)
- Lifeway Research — Pastoral Care, Confidentiality, and Sexual Abuse
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