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Leadership: How to start a life group

5th July 2011 by Claire Hill

Thinking about starting a life group?

That's fantastic news.

Right throughout Australia there are young people who are desperate to belong, young people who would love join with a group of friends and commit to helping each other grow in their relationship with Jesus.

In this article you will find some steps to help you start a healthy, quality life group.

Check your motives

First up, check your motives. Ask yourself: Why do I want to start and lead a life group? If it's because you want to be the boss of something – that's not a good reason.

If it's because you feel God has called you or because you see specific young people who you think would benefit heaps from this – brilliant! Write that vision down somewhere and pray about it more. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you!

Weigh the cost

Leading a life group is a big commitment. It involves praying regularly for your group members, being there to listen when they need to talk, supporting them through major life events, regularly encouraging them, and being consistently available for your scheduled life group slot – even if you're heaps tired or can't be bothered one week.

The commitment is totally worth it – but before you start make sure you understand that it will require selflessness and sacrifice.

Get trained

It's such an important job. If you've never led a life group before we recommend getting some basic training before jumping in. Read the LIFE Leadership Handbook through and if possible, identify someone who has lots of experience leading life groups who you can bounce questions off as they arise.

Get permission

Ask if you can meet up with your corps officers to share with them your vision and heart. They'll want to feel confident that you're going to run a safe and healthy group so do as much homework as you can before you speak to them. Take a copy of the materials you are planning to use with you and – before you go along – have a think through the questions they might ask you.

Choose a location

Some life groups happen within high schools (before school, at lunchtime or after school), some happen at church halls, in someone's home or at their local Maccas. The decision about location will be impacted by what your group members can easily access and by safety issues. See the LIFE Leadership Handbook for more on this.

Invite members

If at all possible, keep your group to all-girls or all-boys. This will make it easier for your members to share freely on certain topics and will also help ensure that you don't get caught in one-on-one situations with a group member of the opposite sex. Your group should have a minimum of two other members and a maximum of eight.

Be safe

This is not to be taken lightly. Go through the "Staying Safe" pages of the LIFE Leadership Handbook and don't rush them! If you haven't already, you'll also need to go to a Caring for Kids training course.

Pray, pray, pray

Pray all the way through. Pray for your young people, pray about your sessions, pray for yourself as a leader, pray for your officers, pray about your location – soak it all in prayer and then watch what God does.