Lead a Weblog for Young Adult Leaders

January is traditionally designated as the most depressing month of the year by psychologists, who cite cold weather, credit card bills, and a post-holiday emotional swoon as reasons you should just consider staying in bed. In fact, January 18, 2010, was designated “the Gloomiest Day of the Year.” So, how do you beat the blues in the dead of winter? One way we recommend is by getting a Bible study going with a group of your friends.

Let’s be honest. Our prayer lives need some help! Some of us pray as if God is a cosmic genie, granting wishes and doing the bidding of those who pray the most or the best. Others treat prayer like a fire alarm—pull in case of emergency. For those of us leading Sunday School classes, Bible studies, and small groups, prayer is often more like an administrative task to check off our to-do list rather than an encounter with a living—and listening—God.

We’re often asked the following question from young adult leaders: What do I do if my group has differing levels of spiritual maturity? That’s a valid question, and a challenging one. For starters, separating groups according to their supposed spiritual maturity isn’t a good solution. It creates pride and division, and it prohibits community. But how do you lead a group of mixed spiritual maturity when you want to make sure everyone is challenged?

We are living in an interesting time in history. For what is likely the first time in the history of the Christian church, generations aren’t worshiping together. It now appears normal to see older generations meeting together wearing suits and singing hymns, boomers wearing Hawaiian shirts and singing peppy songs about how Jesus changed their lives, and emerging generations meeting in dark rooms singing in minor keys. But, from an historical perspective, this is not normal. Beyond that, it is ultimately harmful to the church.

Break the norm this holiday season. Instead of scratching your head about what to buy family members or friends who already have everything, consider packing a shoe box for a needy child in their honor through Operation Christmas Child. Millions of children around the world are waiting to hear the good news of God’s love, and simple gift-filled shoeboxes are breaking down barriers in places where the gospel has previously been blocked. Do something a little different this Christmas—go shopping for shoe boxes and change a child’s life for eternity.

A teacher who lectures is undoubtedly very prepared, very educated, and very willing to dispense information. But real learning and real life transformation comes when a teacher’s information ceases to be their information and starts to be someone else’s information. And that doesn’t happen through lecture. It happens through discovery.

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?

Have you ever been to a shooting range? Everyone is trying to hit the bull’s-eye. How do we, as ministers, know if we’re hitting the mark and “winning” in discipleship?

Defining a small group is a difficult task. Over the last 20 or so years, variations on the theme have become norm. The information in this article unveils the basics of a biblically-driven small group—those things that should be consistent in any group type.

Most people know what to expect when they enter their local church on any given Sunday. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian—it doesn’t matter. Even those churches who pride themselves on being “different” most often have a certain way of doing things, from dress to worship style to music. And that’s fine—until people begin to see those things as an essential part of their experience with God. At that point the system becomes a fundamentally flawed strategy.