rGroup Dinner 8/4/24

Intro

A couple key reminders

rGroup sign-ups will go through September 1st, with the season starting the week of September 2nd!

Season ends week of Nov.

Be thinking through and planning a serve project for your rGroup! There is so many places and opportunities! If you need help planning a day let me know I’d love to help you!

The thing I have found that works best for my group is to pick a place to serve, then get everyone’s availability, pick the day that most people are available, then schedule it. If you give people the option of what place to serve at they don’t always agree and it’ll be halfway through the season before you have a place. Pick the place early, pick the date within the first two weeks of rGroup that way everyone can have it one the calendar in plenty of time

The best way to get people to join your rGroup is through personal invite! If you don’t know someone to invite that is totally fine! Step out of your comfort zone and go up to people, introduce yourself, and invite them to your group!

I will continue to send you an email when someone signs up for your group

If you feel like your group is getting to big, let me know and I can cut off the sign up for your group!

rGroup leader toolbox password: rGroups If you haven’t been on that page in our website go to it! It is constantly being updated with new content

Speaking of content there is a bunch of books on the table — take a look at them they will be made available for you next season (still working out a way to put it on the website in a cohesive way). Sermon content is being added each Sunday that groups can use. Content that is being made by myself, Nathan, Matthew, Stephen, and you guys (if you send me your notes) are being added.

rGroup Digest emails — I didn’t do a great job of being consistent with the emails this summer, but I will send out an email each Friday with details that you need, or events that are coming up, and with some encouragement. Be sure to check the emails or like Liam Neesen I will find you

DTR

Definitions:

Leader - Responsible for leading the group

Making the content

Leading the group

Responsible for all admin etc.

Co-Leader - Apprentice under the leader to become a future leader

Help with making content

Lead group/learn how to lead group

Host - Opening up home for group to meet

rGroup meets at their house

Hospitality — snacks

Admin - Point of contact for the group

Sends emails/texts

Keeps up with prayer requests

Co-Leader

One thing we have been pushing you to do for a long time is to get a co-leader

That is not because we don’t think you can do it

It’s actually to help you - it’s a very biblical thing

I want to give you three Biblical reasons for why you should have a co-leader and then I want to give you some tips as to what you should do with a co-leader

It’s the biblical way

It’s actually a very biblical principle

Luke 10:1 NET

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

We see the Lord appointing 72 individuals but sending them out two at a time

In the book of Exodus we see Moses and Aaron going together to speak to Pharaoh

In the book of Acts we read how the apostles continued this:

Peter and John

Paul and Barnabas

Barnabas and John Mark

Paul and Silas

Even when God created Adam He said it is not good that man should be alone and created Eve — Eve translates as “helper”

So having someone that is with you serving is the Biblical way — we are not meant to suffer alone

Bear each others burdens

You should have a co-leader because they are meant to help you bear the burden of leading

Galatians 6:2 ESV

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

You co-leader is someone that you can talk to about your group openly

They are someone that you can share your honest thoughts with

They aren’t meant to judge you or look down on you because of an opinion — but instead share in your burdens

Lets get real — leading an rGroup can be hard

There will be times when you get discouraged, when things come up that you may not feel equipped to handle, or you just get tired/busy and they are meant to come alongside and bear your burdens

Matthew 26:36–38 NET

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became anguished and distressed. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.”

Jesus in His darkest moment showed the truth of this principle

He didn’t bring all of the disciples — He only brought those who He was close with — the ones that we no know as the future leaders of the church

A co-leader is meant to be someone that can help us

Someone that you can lean on

Equip for future ministry

The last thing a Co-Leader is meant to be is someone that can learn/train under you/with you so that they are equipped for the future ministry

You shouldn’t keep the same co-leader forever

Instead they should be people that we identify as leaders so that they can go out and lead on their own — being trained by you

Matthew 28:18–20 NET

18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus telling His disciples this

They were with Him, learning from Him, and He sent them out to go and shoulder the burden of ministry

Titus 2:3–4 NET

3 Older women likewise are to exhibit behavior fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good. 4 In this way they will train the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children,

Women are called to train up younger women

Titus 2:6–8 NET

6 Encourage younger men likewise to be self-controlled,7 showing yourself to be an example of good works in every way. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss, because he has nothing evil to say about us.

Men are called to train up younger men

This doesn’t necessarily mean age — it means anyone that isn’t as spiritually mature as you

It also means anyone that isn’t as equipped or prepared as you are

We are called to teach others so they can be equipped and sent out

Tips

So if that’s the why behind Co-Leaders:

It’s Biblical

Bear each others burdens

Equip for future ministry

How do we do that?

I want to give you some tips that I have used and hopefully they will be helpful for you

A disclaimer at the top — there is no perfect way to use a co-leader, there is no right or wrong way

Build content together

We are all doing different content

Rather you are building your own content or doing a book study build content with your co-leader

Dustin and Kase are my co-leaders (sorry guys you’re going to be used a lot as demonstrations)

We pick the content we are doing before the rGroup season starts

We then meet up together during the offseason to talk about the content — to build out a plan for how we want to go through the content with our group — to make sure we are on the same page

Last season we finished up Romans, so I taught Dustin how to create small group content out of a passage — I showed him how I do it, pray over the passage, read it, take notes on what stood out, make all of those stand out points connect, write questions off of the standout points

This season we are going through a book — we will meet to talk about how to best go through the content, what it should look like

Doing this right here will take a huge burden off of you — you’re no longer the only one doing this you have someone else that can carry that burden

Teach how to lead

Not only building content together — but teach them how to lead that content that they built

Leading a small group may sound easy to you — you’ve been doing it for a while, but for your co-leader they may have never led anything on their own before

For Dustin he had filled in a couple times at some other bible studies, but I had him sit down with his content and go through it with me

I asked some questions that may be asked about the passage to get him to have a feel for it

I gave him honest feedback about the content and how he led — feedback isn’t evil it is the most kind thing you can do. Feedback is saying I love you and want you to succeed — don’t be afraid to give feedback when it is warranted

Rather they have led groups before or it’s their first time having them go through the content that they built is a good idea — it gives them more buy in, makes them feel more prepared, and shows them how you lead a group

Give up tasks

Give up some tasks and responsibilities so they can learn those skills, or so they can be more involved

There are things your rGroup does that you don’t have to lead

Kase for example is our secretary lol

She send outs all the emails, both the welcome emails and the weekly content emails

She takes down all the prayer requests

She gets everything together so that people are equipped and prepared

This season I am going to have Dustin pick our serving partner, set up the day/time that works for everyone and schedule it with the partner that he picks

That’s something that traditionally I have always done — and I can continue to do so

But if I do it how will he learn to do it?

What are things that you are doing that can be passed off to your co-leader?

On-going communication

This sounds obvious but you should have on going communication with your co-leader

Rather you are texting, talking on the phone, meeting during the week/weekend, or just talking together after rGroup

On-going communication can help you find out what they are struggling with, what their thoughts about the group are, what they think should be done differently, and so much more

Again I realize this sounds obvious, but it is something that you should just be continuously doing — which is why you should pick a co-leader that you think is a leader and someone you get along with

Future oriented

The last thing is to always be future oriented with your co-leader

Let them know from the jump why they were picked to be a co-leader and always be future oriented with them

Dustin was picked because he is a leader and plans to lead an rGroup in the future

So we are constantly talking about what he plans to do in the future

How his group will look

I plan to help him build out his content for his future rGroup and champion it when he decides to plant

rGroups are not meant to be holy huddles that come together and build solid concrete walls, they are instead meant to be a living organism that can split and divide to better grow and equip the church

The best way to do that is by instilling in your co-leader that they are being trained and equipped to lead in the future

Conclusion

That’s the tips I have for you

Nothing flashy, nothing special, not from a book or website

Just practical things that I do with my co-leader

I’d like to take the next 15 minutes to open the floor up to you guys

Ask questions if you have questions, share how you had a co-leader and how it went, what things did you do that worked well? What things did you do that didn’t work?

You shouldn’t just be learning from me, but from each other like Proverbs says

Proverbs 27:17 NET

17 As iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens his friend.