Should You Be a Small Group Leader
Sometimes I look around in church and I see the same twenty percent of the people serving the other eighty percent. There are so many needs in the church. Maybe your church needs small group leaders. Maybe you’re in a small group that wants to grow and someday split. Is this a role you should take on?
Should you be a small group leader? If your motivation is to please the Lord, not people, and you are reading the Bible regularly, and feel a calling to serve people, then yes you should be.
Motivation
Leading a small group requires consistent prayer, submission and dependency on God to serve His people. You will be working with the most difficult thing that God loves – people. People can be messy. Some people make the mistake of deciding whether to be a small group leader or not by asking the question, “Can I help clean up this mess?” This question puts the work on you, and it depends on how good you are, how trained you are, and how wise you are. Instead of looking at the mess, a wise leader looks at the glory. God’s glory.
When God’s glory is so abundant and apparent in our lives we have no choice but to react in celebration and worship. When we understand what He has done for us we cannot help but be moved to a reaction. When we understand God’s love for us, our love and worship are responsive – not out of responsibility.
Leading a small group is one way of worshiping God. It’s a role, but more importantly, it’s a response! It says, “God I will love you by loving your people.” “Lord, I will feed your sheep.” “Lord I will do for the least of them.” “Feel my love for you O’ Lord by how I love your people.”
Take a moment to interrogate your heart. Pray, “Examine my heart Lord.” If you are motivated by duty or pride, or your own glory or position than put the consideration of leading a small group on hold. If you get excited about ‘being in charge’, lay that at the feet of Jesus in confession instead. You will stand accountable before God for what you were entrusted with.
Fear is a good indication you should be a small group leader. There is a holy fear that we feel when we know we are accountable to God.
Situation
Are you reading the Bible regularly? This is the source of all truth and understanding. It needs to be digested regularly and often. The Bible claims that it is good for correction and rebuking and training.
To lead a small group you have to be dependent on God. The only other way to lead a small group is from your own power and wisdom. You might go unnoticed for a while, but symptoms will start to arise. Don’t do this to yourself or the group of people God has entrusted to you.
What’s your current situation with your time? Leading a small group requires time. More time than just your regularly scheduled small group. It requires taking time to pray for you small group regularly, including each and every person in it. IT also requires time to call people, or write notes, and let them know you’re thinking about them. It requires time to read and study the material, and often means that by leading your reading a head, you’re reading other material to consider, and your studying it deeper so that you can come up with discussion questions and make the most of your time together. You’ll also need time to help people when needs come up. You often can’t budget for this, but have your heart be ready to sacrificially love someone by giving up your time in doing something else to help them.
Humility
Are you willing to allow God to use you as you are? If he has called into this role he wants you to worship, and he also wants your transparency and honesty. When you allow God to do this, it is also worshiping and honoring Him. Through our weakness, His power is perfected. He wants your weakness, and He wants it shared with our brothers and sisters in Christ so that it will make his Glory more known.
Are you comfortable with your identity in Christ? Are you more comfortable with who he made you than what you do for a living?
You should be willing to bring your sensitive areas to the Lord. Being a leader means being criticized. Often things people say hurt us for one of two reasons.
When we are criticized for something we already know about ourselves, it shouldn’t hurt. We should respond in humility with confirmation of that, or further explanation of how we’re dealing with it.
Sometimes people will criticize leaders on something that they think they see but isn’t true. That shouldn’t hurt either
The first reason is that they pointed out something we did not know about ourselves. This stings.
The second reason is that they say something that isn’t true, but you thought they knew you better than that. This can hurt deeply. An example of this is if a small group member says something like, “I can see you struggle with materialism.” It will hurt if you honestly know that you’ve struggled with that in the past, and have made clear choices to not purchase things because of this struggle in teh past. Thinking someone knew you better than they do, is always a painful let down.
Calling
Do people want to be around you? Are people saying things like, “We should get together sometime.” Maybe so much that you don’t have enough time. Small groups are a great way to invite all these people that want to get together to get together and have a foundation of Christ. Talk and catch up, and see what God has in store for you.
Take time to pray about if this is the role God wants you. If you have prayed about and see people approaching you, knocking on your door, calling you, and asking for your time, it can be affirmation this is where God wants you to serve. It can be tempting to take this role because it has the title of ‘leader’ in it. But you shouldn’t do it because of status or hierarchy. Do it because you’re affirmed this is where and how God wants you to serve. When we’re willing to do what God wants to do with our lives, people are impacted for his Glory. That is the best role we can have.
Conclusion
If you want to worship God by loving His people, you are reading the Bible, and you see a calling for people, than you should take the step of faith and lead a small group. Loving people is hard and messy, but when you do it for God is glorious and it puts you in a place of continual submission. People have problems. Often they look to the closest people in their lives to help them with those problems. You will be acting as a conduit and guide. Show them how you have issues and problems, and how you have depended on God and His Bible to help you. Pray for them. Show them how you have changed and placed your hope and trust in Jesus. Be an example of how to read the Bible and pray. Take time for them. Love them. And in doing so you will be loving God.