The 4 Jobs of a Small Group Leader (1 of 4)

Over the next few days we are going to dive a little deeper into what it means to be a small group leader in a youth ministry setting.  We’ll go through four basic “jobs,” in no particular order.  A few things to keep in mind as we go through this:

• There is no hierarchy to these “jobs,” at least I don’t think there is one.  
• All of these “jobs” are equally important, but they don’t all get equal time.  

Job #1 – Care

You know the old saying, right?  ”They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

It really is that simple, but how do we let them know how much we care?  I’d like to suggest that we can break this down into two basic areas:

• Be There

Being there is… Well, it’s just that.  We need to show up in the lives of the students that we are committed to leading.  Is a student of yours involved in drama?  Be there when the show goes on.  Do you know a teenager who is a gamer?  Take them out to the arcade to hang out with them in their element.  One of your students is an athlete?  Hang out and watch them at practice, everyone goes to the games!  Simply proving to teenagers that you are willing to take time out of your day for them goes a long way in proving how much you care.  This is so important but we also need to take another step in this area.

Be there in the little conversations that you have around church, I mean really be present to your students.  So often I see people in the halls of church engaged in one conversation and totally drop it in favor of a conversation that they think will be more stimulating.  When you are engaged in a conversation with a teenager, be there.

• Pray

This one should be obvious!  Pray for your students! Find out what is weighing on their hearts, what is going on in their world and pray for it then let your students know that you are praying for them.  Not only will your prayers have a huge impact on the lives of the students but the fact that they know that you have spent time talking to God about what is important in their lives will have an immeasurable impact in the lives of the students in your group!

[Photo by: mfajardo]