One of the challenging this about my role as a pastor was coming into a small group that already existed, but then being thrust into the role of “leader.” As a young, insecure leader, I felt like I needed to provide strong leadership and teaching. I didn’t think that I could expect the group to share responsibility. I definitely fell into the provider/consumer temptation.
Crawling out of that has been a challenge, but I’m working on it. One thing we’re doing is sharing responsibility for deciding what we want to be as a group. We’re using Cloud, Townsend, and Donahue’s resource ReGroup (DVD) for this. The production quality isn’t great, but the idea is. It gives everyone (not just the leader/pastor) a context to think about what a group could be, and what each of responsibility is in that. It’s four full length sessions, plus 13 5-minute drama vignettes for ongoing skills development as a group.
Overall: Solid resource for adult small groups, especially ones that have been going for a while and want some self-evaluation. Probably a bit slow for experienced group leaders looking for training, or for youth small groups.
Bob Wriedt 