ReGroup: Training Groups to Be Groups (Paperback)

Chapter One

As you use DVD One, which guides your group through four complete group meetings, we will ask you to give us about an hour of your group time. In effect, we will be your group coaches. During that hour each meeting, you will learn the biblical purpose for your group, begin to build or strengthen relationships, establish your ground rules so your group functions authentically, and clarify your direction and goals so your group achieves the purpose for which you gathered. This is only for the first four meetings.

Then, building from that foundation, DVD Two will coach you to greater effectiveness as a community. There are 13 short coaching tips (about 5-10 minutes each) designed to help you practice an essential component of group life. Most include role plays and dramas to model a particular skill, such as active listening, learning to tell your story, effective prayer, balancing participation of members, confronting obstacles in your group, handling pain, and more. View one of these tips at the beginning of your meeting, and then practice using the new skill throughout the course of your meeting time, within the context of your regular study or discussion. At the end of the meeting, there is a short debrief time to review how it felt to use that skill in the group.

In addition, there are three extended coaching tips that cover challenging issues confrontation, conflict, and dealing with a crisis. These tips will require an entire group meeting to work through and can be used as your group matures and encounters the realities of life.

Your participant guide is a tool to help you work as a team while you develop group values and build relationships with each other. It provides resources to help you in each group meeting, plus tools for further study and investigation in your personal life.

Get ready for a challenging and productive experience in community! If you are willing to work together-and expect to partner with your leader as an entire team-your group will become a powerful place for change, growth, and encouragement.

We wish you the best, Henry, Bill, and John

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