Connecting Small Groups Online

I am a big fan of the Internet. I have been connecting with people online since 1994 and I have many new friends/acquaintances because of blogs like this one. I have a personal blog where I keep friends and family up to speed with my life. You can find pictures of my kids, videos, and other random stuff that I think about from time to time. There are a lot of online communities springing up all over the place. A lot of people are now using Facebook to connect with other people and blogs have become places for community to thrive.

So, I ask, how can we utilize online social networks, blogs, or the next new online service as a tool to help our own small group communities connect and grow?

I have experimented in the past with a blog for my small group. The blog was a place where everyone could go to see updates, announcements, prayer requests, stories, pictures...etc. I was posting recaps and notes from our meetings each week. This was nice for people who happen to miss that week. Comments were left open too so that discussion could be had online during the week. It was a very simple setup really and worked great for a time. It was bridging the gap where communication of the group had been lacking. And then suddenly it all fell apart.

The small group blog that I created failed because of lack of participation. I would post updates or questions and people became too busy to visit the site and check for updates. It was agreed that email was the best way to communicate, so I blew up the blog and we went back to emailing everything.

I still believe that online social networking has great potential to be a very useful tool for small groups. Most of the services out there cost nothing so it is a free tool to use. I think that small groups can benefit from connecting more often than a few times a month and the Internet provides the tools necessary to do so. It doesn't require another meeting for everyone to make time in their schedule to participate. You can login whenever you have time and participate as much or as little as you like. Share a lot or share little or nothing at all. The sky is the limit.

I know there are not many readers of this blog yet, but I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with small groups using online technology. Also if you have any questions about how to get setup on something, I can help with that too.

Tell Me More About Your Small Group

I occasionally get emails from prospective small group members wanting to know more about our small group. Sometimes they just want to know details about when, where, and can I bring my kids. The other day I received an email with a list of specific questions. I kind of felt like my small group was being interviewed.

I went through and answered all of the questions, but also described our small group with a short sentence or two describing what we are about. I think that each small group member should be able to tell others what their small group does in a short sentence or two. This can help prospective members make a decision to come visit or to look for a different group. I always feel bad when someone takes the time to come to visit a small group and realizes right away that it is not what they are looking for one reason or another.

I am not suggesting that you try to scare people away from your group, but be honest about what your group does. Don't worry about numbers, just sell your group for what it is. The right people will join your group and it will make for a better community than trying to be something that you are not to attract a lot of people.

Small Group Leaders and Social Networking

Caught this on Josh Griffin's blog MTDB (More Than Dodgeball) this morning about how small group leaders need to think about what they are posting on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

We love that our volunteers are on Twitter and Facebook! It seems like everyone is enjoying the benefits of social networking these days – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise your volunteers are interested or already involved for sure. Most use the technology to their groups’ benefit, though from time to time we’ve had to have conversations and consider removing volunteers for what they put online. At small group training this week I’m going to ask our small group leaders to apply these three simple guidelines when updating social networks:

Click here to go read the goodness at MTDB.

Small Group Covenant from Saddleback HSM

Saw this on Josh Griffin's blog tonight and thought that this was really good stuff. Will probably use it or something similar for my high school small group.

Here is the small group covenant from the front of our student journal this year. If it would work for you, copy/paste! Edit at will …

CONSISTENT
I promise to regularly attend my small group. If I have to miss, I will responsibly let my small group leader know.

COMPASSIONATE
I promise to be patient, loving, and forgiving toward my small group family because I understand that I am a part of a family of students who want to grow.

TEACHABLE
I joined this small group to grow spiritually, so I promise to do my part by listening attentively with an open heart, as well as bring my Bible and notebook each week.

AUTHENTIC
I promise to be open and honest about my life with my small group at all times, allowing for accountability and encouragement between my small group and myself.

CONFIDENTIAL
I promise to honor my small group by not communicating what we discuss with anyone outside of our group.

Thanks to Jessica for letting me share it!

JG

3 Solutions to Small Group Commitment Issues

I know that you life is busy and you feel like life is pulling you in 100 different directions, but I am tired of hearing excuses about why you cannot make it to small group. You commitment to being a small group member is very important unless you want your small group to just be a shallow social club. How do you expect to be a part of the community if you are only there occasionally? I was in a small group that met every other week and when we had to miss a meeting, we didn't see anyone for an entire month. So if we missed half then we were only doing small group 12 times a year. Personally, I don't think that is enough to really invest in a community.

So how do you work small group into your already over busy chaotic life? I have a few suggestions that both leaders and members should pay attention to.

1. Put small group on the calendar first. Don't schedule anything that night of the week ever. Learn to say no to other activities because you cannot make everyone happy.


2. If that night of the week is bad, you may need to look for a small group that meets on a different night or time.


3. Don't want a different group? Talk to the leader and see if there is a possibility to change the meeting night. The leader can offer that up to the group and maybe the group will be able to make a change to accommodate you. If this works, you had better show up every meeting because everyone else is sacrificing for you.

Bonus : For Radical small groups only......I would talk to the group leader about planning more frequent meetings. It is easier to recover from missing 1 week if your group meets every week. I would also suggest taking your small group online so that people who miss have a chance to catch up. Make efforts to connect outside of the scheduled meeting to maintain that community connection. It doesn't always have to be deep Bible study. Go do other things with your small group. Take part in some aspects of their chaotic life and maybe you can find ways to serve each other and keep that community connected.