ACTS II EVANGELIZATION LEADERSHIP TRAINING GUIDES AVAILABLE HERE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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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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6
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Session Three:
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Skills, Nine Through Twelve, For Sharing Groups
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9
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Session Four:
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Skill, Number Thirteen, For Sharing Groups
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33
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Session Five:
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Skills, Fourteen Through Sixteen, For Sharing Groups
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16
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Session Six:
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Being A Small Group Leader: Burden Or Blessing?
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19
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APPENDIX
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Prayer Services:
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37
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Bibliography
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(SAMPLE)
TRAINEE'S
SMALL GROUP LEADER'S HANDBOOK
SESSION ONE
SKILLS, ONE THROUGH FOUR, FOR SHARING GROUPS
OBJECTIVE
To learn how to apply the following four leadership skills in a sharing group:
-Provide a safe setting for sharing;
-Keep participants to the purpose of the sharing;
-Be a servant to the participants;
-Oversee the interactivity among the participants.
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.
1. Small group splintering into three's and two's must be avoided.
Participants are present to learn from one another as a body.
2. One person in the group shares while everyone else listens attentively.
B. The leader models how to share by sharing first.
C. Group size and composition are important factors in providing a safe
setting for sharing.
-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.
II. The skill of keeping participants to the purpose of the sharing.
A. The purpose of sharing groups in the evangelization process is the
personal sharing of Scripture and of life and faith experiences.
B. The small group leader needs to be consciously aware that his/her chief
task is to keep the group to its purpose.
III. The skill of being servant to the group participants.
A. A small group leader needs to know what authority is his/hers as leader of
the group.
1. Leadership authority is one of service to the participants.
2. A good small group leader is a servant of the shared faith experience
of the participants. This is a position requiring humble respect for the
participants.
3. The person who is new as a small group leader must be aware that it is
not a position of prestige but of service.
B. Very often the insights and thoughts of the small group leader will need to
be set aside in order that (s)he can be attentive to what is happening in the
group itself.
IV. The skill of overseeing the interactivity between participants.
A. The first thing to observe in a newly formed group is the interactivity
between the participants. Often the experiences of the participants
are in conflict.
-This difference in experience can cause uncertainty and fear among the
participants for whom this type of faith sharing is a new experience.
B. In all groups, three distinct dynamics are operative. These three basic
dynamics are:
1. Fight-flight. When people disagree, anger begins and a momentary
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 good leader makes it clear to the participants in the beginning that
the sharing time is sacred and that each person's sharing is accepted.
It is not judged, criticized or merely tolerated.
2. Dependency. One of the struggles in life is learning how to be interde-
pendent rather than independent or dependent.
a) Some people have a fear of rejection and will act in order to please
the leader. Others may try to convince the leader that (s)he is the
most gifted and wonderful person in the group.
b) The leader needs to be on guard.
3. Pairing. Here the assumption is that others in the group will disagree
with the two who are pairing. Pairing can be due to natural likes, similar
interests and experiences but it can also be a defense against change.
-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 group continues to
meet.
-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
participants are being affected (infected?).
C. It is very important that the leader understand that (s)he is not a therapist
and therefore not entitled to dig into the participants' personal lives nor to
do sensitivity training.
-While it is helpful for the small group leader to recognize the group dynamics,
it is neither necessary nor advisable to point them out to the group.