ACTS II EVANGELIZATION LEADERSHIP TRAINING GUIDES AVAILABLE HERE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Pastorial Leador's Weekend Schedule
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Session One:
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Skills, One Through Four, For Sharing Groups
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1
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Session Two:
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Skills, Five Through Eight, For Sharing Groups
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10
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Session Three:
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Skills, Nine Through Twelve, For Sharing Groups
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18
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Session Four:
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Skill, Number Thirteen, For Sharing Groups
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27
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Session Five:
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Skills, Fourteen Through Sixteen, For Sharing Groups
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35
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Session Six:
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Being a Pastoral Leader: Burden or Blessing?
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43
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APPENDIX
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Principles for Sharing
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63
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Evaluation
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Bibliography
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(SAMPLE)
LEADER'S
EVANGELIZATION TRAINING GUIDE
SESSION ONE
SKILLS, ONE THROUGH FOUR, FOR SHARING GROUPS
OBJECTIVE
To learn how to apply the following four leadership skills in a sharing group:
-Providing a safe setting for sharing;
-Keeping members to the purpose of the sharing;
-Being servant to the group members;
-Overseeing the interactivity between group members.
REQUIRED PREPARATIONS--TRAINING INSTRUCTOR
1. Plan for and implement personal prayer time.
2. Study instructional content on page 2.
3. At the end of presentation, ASK if there are any questions about presented material
and ANSWER questions by quoting from the presented material.
4. Review "Small Group Sharing Practice". Choose group of 4-8 people from the list
of trainees, and designate one as the leader.
5. Pray with training team 30 minutes before session.
TRAINING INSTRUCTOR PATH
TOTAL TIME: 105 Minutes
OPENING PRAYER 15 MINS.
1. ASK group to turn to PLH page 37 and stand.
2. SIGNAL for music and prayer leaders to begin.
3. REQUEST Blessing Prayer.
4. THANK group and ask them to be seated.
BEGIN SESSION ONE
1. ASK group to turn to PLH page 1.
2. STATE session objective:
In this session, four skills will be learned for effective leading of sharing groups and
time for putting these skills into practice will be provided.
INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT 10 MINS.
1. LOOK OVER key points to be taught:
I. The skill of providing a safe setting for sharing.
II. The skill of keeping members to the purpose of the sharing.
III. The skill of being servant to the group members.
IV. The skill of overseeing the interactivity between group members.
2. TEACH expanded outline of above key points:
I. The skill of providing a safe setting for sharing.
A. The leader's role is to provide a safe setting in which people can
share their experience. Facilitation, not domination, is the goal.
Maximum sharing within the total group can only be done in an
environment that is safe.
1. Small group splintering into three's and two's must be avoided.
2. One person in the group shares while everyone else listens
attentively.
B. The leader models how to share by sharing first. This wards off the
fear of the unknown that is natural to people in new situations.
C. Group size and composition are important factors in providing a safe
setting for sharing.
1. The optimum number of people in a sharing group is four to
eight. This size is large enough to give a diversity in experience
that will be enriching for all the members, and small enough
to give that security that allows for in-depth personal sharing.
2. The most important factor in the composition of the groups is to
have men and women in separate groups. The basic reason
for this is the principle of like being best able to minister to like.
A. The purpose of sharing groups in the evangelization training process
is the personal sharing of Scripture and of life and faith experiences,
as they relate to the content of the training sessions.
B. The pastoral leader needs to be consciously aware that his or her
chief task is to keep the group to its purpose. A group will very
often wish to get away from its purpose by talking about unrelated matters, or sharing on
something more superficial.
1. This is an attempt to avoid the hardship of facing one's personal
reality that is in need of deeper conversion to the Lord.
2. The leader must always be aware that the group sharing will
succeed only if he or she makes the effort to keep the group to
its purpose.
3. This is an essential skill for the pastoral leader to develop.
III. The skill of being servant to the group members.
A. A sharing group leader needs to know what authority is his or hers
as leader of the group. Group leadership is not dependent on
the intuitive brilliance of the leader.
1. Leadership authority is one of service to the group members.
It is never self-oriented, never directed to self so as to have
oneself shine in front of others either mentally, psychologically,
or spiritually.
2. A good pastoral leader is a servant of the shared faith experience
of the members. This is a position requiring humble
respect for the members.
-A person who needs a group to show-off or to prove self-
worth, cannot adequately guide the dynamics of the sharing
group.
3. The person who is new as a pastoral leader must be aware
that it is not a position of prestige but of service.
B. Very often the insights and thoughts of the leader will need to be
set aside in order that he or she can be attentive to what is happening
in the group itself.
1. A leader who uses a group to star for himself or herself will not
be present enough to the group to be in touch with the dynamics
that are going on within the group.
2. The concerned leader provides a safe tone in which to share.
This means that he or she must be alert to sense the areas which
personally threaten others and knows when to intervene.
A. The first thing to observe in a newly formed group is the interactivity
between the group members. Often the experiences of group
members are in conflict.
1. In itself this is not a problem because the life experience of each
person is valid and cannot be argued with.
2. However, this difference in experience can cause uncertainty
and fear among the members for whom this type of faith sharing
is a new experience.
B. In all groups, three distinct dynamics are operative. These are
dynamics which a group leader ought to be aware of, but not
threatened by, because if the group functions well, these dynamics
will work themselves out.
The three basic dynamics are:
1. Fight-flight. When people disagree, anger begins and a mo-
mentary confrontation occurs or simmers inside people.
Instead of carrying the difference to a more reasoned conclusion,
one or both members flee, as flight is a way to safety.
a) One way of fleeing is to leave the training.
b) Another way is to lapse into silence, saying to oneself: "I
will just keep still, everyone else has more to say than I
do." Or, "I am shy; I have less experience than others." Or, "What will
they think of me if I share this?"
c) A good leader makes it clear to the members in the begin-
ning that the sharing time is sacred, and that each person's
sharing is accepted. It is not judged, criticized or merely
tolerated.
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2. Dependency. One of the struggles in life is learning how to be
interdependent rather than independent or dependent.
a) People can tend quickly to be dependent upon the leader,
who becomes for them a parental figure by the fact of being the leader.
b) Some people have a fear of rejection and will act in order to please the leader. Others may try
to convince the leader
that he or she is the most gifted and wonderful person in the
group.
c) The leader needs to be on guard. Leading a group is not an
ego trip; it is not the sought after opportunity to have praises
sung about oneself.
d) Rather, the leader must have a true estimate of himself or
herself before God that will enable him/her to intervene when
necessary, to point out the mercy of God from whom every
good gift comes.
3. Pairing. Here the assumption is that others in the group will dis-
agree with the two who are pairing.
a) Pairing can be due to natural likes, similar interests and experi-
ences, but it can also be a defense against change. It would
not be uncommon for persons to pair up against the leader.
b) It is important that the leader recognize this when it happens
and take the right pastoral action:
-Let it be for a time; it may work itself out as the training process goes on.
-Give encouragement and exhortation when pastoring the
persons outside the sharing group.
-Address the situation in the group when it is evident that the
other members are being affected (infected?).
C. It is very important that the leader understand that he or she is not a
therapist and therefore not entitled to dig into the members' personal
lives nor to do sensitivity training.
-While it is helpful for the pastoral leader to recognize the group
dynamics, it is neither necessary nor advisable to point them out to
the group.
COMMUNITY BREAK 10 MINS.
SMALL GROUP SHARING PRACTICE 55 MINS.
A.
Preparatory Steps (to be done during the community break):
1. Quietly call aside two of the people chosen to be in the Small Group Sharing
Practice which follows immediately upon the break.
2. STATE the following:
Your role is to provide the means for the group leader to test how well he
or she can apply the four skills just learned.
3. INSTRUCT one person:
After someone has shared say something like: "Oh, I'm glad I've never felt
that way; that must be terrible!" Then continue talking along that line to the
person next to you.
4. INSTRUCT the other person:
In your sharing, get off the topic by going into something irrelevant; be
superficial in your sharing.
5. Be sure that the two people understand their role and their instructions. It is
important they do what they have been asked to do, otherwise the Small
Group Sharing Practice will not accomplish its purpose. Thank them for their
help.
B.
For the Small Group Sharing Practice:
1. ASK group to turn again to PLH page 5.
2. ASK all to read and reflect on the Scripture passage and to answer the
questions which will be shared in the small group. And TELL them they have
15 minutes for this.
3. STATE the following:
We will now have a Small Group Sharing to give you the opportunity to apply
the skills you have just learned. I have chosen the following (number) people
to be in the group: (Give names). (Name), would you please take the role
of leader? Thank you.
4. CALL the "Small Practice Group" forward and ask them to sit in a circle with their
chairs close together for the sharing.
5. ASK the others to sit around the outside so as to be able to hear and quietly
observe.
6. INSTRUCT the Small Practice Group as follows:
a. The leader will begin with a prayer and will model how to share by sharing
first.
b. In order to build on the faith sharing of each person, everyone will first share
on question one, then move to question two, etc.
c. A good way to relieve anxiety about when to share is to simply go around
the circle. Then each person knows when his or her turn is coming.
d. Each person is free to share as much or as deeply as he or she wishes.
e. Time will be called at the end of 20 minutes.
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7. CALL time and STATE the following:
We have 20 minutes now to review what happened during this sharing in relation
to how well the leader applied the leadership skills we looked at earlier.
I invite the leader to comment first, then the group members, two observers, and
lastly, I will comment. Please be brief with your comments. What is important is
that you state what you have learned about these leadership skills from this Small
Practice Group.
8. SUMMARIZE all the comments.
COMMUNITY BREAK 15 MINS.
MEETING THE LORD JESUS IN MATTHEW 14:22-33
Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the
mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
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FIRST: Read the passage thougtfully and reflectively. Put yourself in the scene. Find where it
is that you can identify Jesus as speaking to you now in your circumstances; where your can say
"That's me." In your sharing, state the "why" of your choices.
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1. The particular moment in this experience with the Lord that touches me where I am is:
a. "They were terrified...and they cried out for fear."
b. "So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus..."
c. "When he saw the wind he was afraid."
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2. Jesus is saying to me:
a. "Take heart; it is I; have no fear."
b. "Come."
c. "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
d. Other ______________________
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3. My response to him is:
a. "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water."
b. "Lord, save me."
c. Other ____________________
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4. In order to embrace the challenge of Jesus to me in my life, I need:
a. to put my trust in Jesus.
b. to seek the will of the Father more earnestly in prayer.
c. to take myself less seriously.
d. to recommit my whole self to the Lord Jesus.
e. other _______________________________________________________
ACTS II EVANGELIZATION LEADERSHIP TRAINING GUIDES AVAILABLE HERE