Small group leadership can vary depending on the purpose of the group. The most common small group has one leader who handles all of the organization, communication, ang group preparations for everyone else. This can work very well as long as the individual leader is able to stay focused and committed to leading the group. Often small groups are made up of regular people who have families and go to their job everyday. This can make for distractions to the responsibilities of leading a small group. This can be easily managed if balance can be found with the other responsibilities of your daily life.
Sometimes when these responsibilities cause a small group leader to become overwhelmed, leadership can be shared or handed off for a time to allow a break for the regular small group leader. Sometimes a small group will use a shared leadership model. If you group meets at the home of a different family each week, maybe the host family will be leading group. I have also seen where a small group will hand off the study preparation to different people in the group each week or each time they change books or series that they are studying. This spreads the work load around and gives others a chance to learn leadership responsibilities.
A third type of small group leadership uses delegation to share the responsibilies of the group. When the work load becomes too much for one person to handle and other members are uncomfortable with taking on the full workload for a time, the responsibilities can be delegated. This works very well for small groups that are attempting to go beyond the typical simple Bible study. I have seen small groups that have the study leader, a secretary, outreach director, and social director. The study leader can focus their energy on preparing the Bible study for each week. The Secretary handles all group communication and logistics. Outreach focuses on organizing outreach activities for the group, and the Social director plans and organizes social events for the group. You may not need that many delegations, or your group may need more. You can break it up however you want. This model will allow the group to use the gifts of the group members to help the group grow in community. This is my personal favorite small group model as it divides the work load so that each person who is responsible for some aspect of the group is not overwhelmed and allows the group to become more effective.
Small groups can be led in many different ways. Pay attention to the needs of your group to determine what type of leadership is needed. Also you should not be afraid to change or adjust the leadership model if something is not working.
Sometimes when these responsibilities cause a small group leader to become overwhelmed, leadership can be shared or handed off for a time to allow a break for the regular small group leader. Sometimes a small group will use a shared leadership model. If you group meets at the home of a different family each week, maybe the host family will be leading group. I have also seen where a small group will hand off the study preparation to different people in the group each week or each time they change books or series that they are studying. This spreads the work load around and gives others a chance to learn leadership responsibilities.
A third type of small group leadership uses delegation to share the responsibilies of the group. When the work load becomes too much for one person to handle and other members are uncomfortable with taking on the full workload for a time, the responsibilities can be delegated. This works very well for small groups that are attempting to go beyond the typical simple Bible study. I have seen small groups that have the study leader, a secretary, outreach director, and social director. The study leader can focus their energy on preparing the Bible study for each week. The Secretary handles all group communication and logistics. Outreach focuses on organizing outreach activities for the group, and the Social director plans and organizes social events for the group. You may not need that many delegations, or your group may need more. You can break it up however you want. This model will allow the group to use the gifts of the group members to help the group grow in community. This is my personal favorite small group model as it divides the work load so that each person who is responsible for some aspect of the group is not overwhelmed and allows the group to become more effective.
Small groups can be led in many different ways. Pay attention to the needs of your group to determine what type of leadership is needed. Also you should not be afraid to change or adjust the leadership model if something is not working.
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