Lead a Weblog for Young Adult Leaders

For as long as I can remember, I have heard this saying: “If you get the girls to come to church, the guys will follow.” For several years I believed that saying and even have a number of friends who followed girls to church and ended up becoming great men of faith. Unfortunately, most of the ministries I’ve known over the years have had tremendous women involved and serving, but still the group struggled to have consistent male connectivity. So, I wonder if the old adage is really true?

I have a big wooden word sitting on my desk as I do Threads work every day here in Nashville. It’s seven letters, all caps, and it screams at you as you walk in the door:
BELIEVE.

Just about every person who walks through my door points to it and asks me about it.

Starting a small group ministry will move your church members beyond “doing church” to “being the church.” And when followers of Jesus are being the church, those not-yet-followers of Christ can’t help but notice (Acts 2:47).

There are six important steps to starting a healthy small group ministry.

Don’t touch sin. Don’t even think about it. It will take down your life so quickly and so horribly that you won’t even know who or what hit you. If you think you’re above your own self-destruction, you’re probably already heading to the slaughter. But if you’re a leader who, like me, acknowledges you’re always just inches from lapsing headlong into destruction from sin, here’s what you can do.

In 1940, author Thomas Wolfe declared, “You can’t go home again,” and yet, every summer, thousands of college students make a valiant effort to prove him wrong. Summer provides a unique opportunity for ministry, but as students return and attempt to readjust to life at home, integrating them back into your group is often easier said than done. As the school year ends and homecomings ensue, be sure to keep these keys in mind as you seek to reconnect with your returnees.