How can my small group (we call them Connect Groups) send out a small group leader (Connect Group Leaders) well?
- Pray—pray with your group for God to raise up a future CGLs
- Cast Vision—share with your group why we need more CGs; share how many more people in
our church need to experience community; share why it’s important to live by faith and not for
comfort; share the possibilities of what God might do if someone goes.
- Announce—when someone answers the call, share it with the group! Make it a big deal!
- Celebrate—when you announce someone responding to the call to plant a new group, make it a party! People move in the direction of the behaviors that are celebrated. If we celebrate planting new groups, it shepherd's people that are uneasy about it to see it as normal (which, it’s BEYOND normal! It’s blessed by God because it’s HIS idea!).
- Cast Vision—as the weeks go by and the new CGL gets closer to leaving the group to start their own, share with the group the process the new leader is going through. The leader is going through training, finishing applications, meeting with staff, stepping out in faith, and so much more. Your group will feel a wide range of emotions. They’ll need to be reminded of the vision. They’ll need to know God’s got more for their group, more for the leader that’s being planted, more for our church, and that we are all gaining so much more through “losing” a valuable member of the group.
- Celebrate—figure out when the last time is that the new leader will be in your group and make it a party! It’s a huge deal! Vision and celebration are how we SEND, rather than just letting a leader leave.
- Start over — pray...again. Cast vision...again. Celebrate...again. God’s not done. Do it again.
