The 4 Jobs of a Small Group Leader (3 of 4)

Job #3 – Relational Connection

This job is all about simply building relationships with the students in your small group.  Relational connection is different from care in that relational connection goes 360 degrees in your group, it’s all about developing a real not only between you and your students but amongst the students themselves.  Relational connection is about creating a real group, not just a conglomeration of individuals.

As I said in the first post in this series, all of these jobs are equally important but they don’t all get equal time.  The reason for this is that some just need more time than others to take effect.  Relational connection is the one that will most likely need to take the majority of your actual small group meeting time (think 80%.)

It is vital that a good deal of time be spent just getting to know each other, having fun, and seemingly “wasting time” together because that time will create the foundational relationships that are necessary so that the group can begin to care for its’ own members and accountability will be taken to heart and not just heard.

If you are the point person for the small groups in your ministry then it is your job to overly give relational connection permission to the individual small group leaders.  A lot of the time it may seem like group time is being wasted in catching up on the week or talking about sports,  guys, girls, school & parent drama, but that relationship time is vital to the group and can be a great jumping off point for the next job of a small group leader!

So, what are some great ways to work on relational connection within a small group?

[Photo Copyright: Mabyn Ludke - Used With Permission]