Saddleback Lake Forest

As of January 23, 2012:

• Over 1300 new small groups have formed so far!
• 2,500 people have signed up to get the Daily verse via email
• 1,100 signed up to get the Daily verse via text message
• 75 have signed up to get the Daily verse in Spanish via text message
• 2,700 have signed up for the Daily 40 Days Email
• 900 have signed up for the Daily 40 Days text message reminder

Would you like memory verses, video devotions, scripture reading and other complementary resources for your personal study time?  It's easy. Just go to the 40 Days in the Word study habits page, click on "Grow" and sign up. You can watch daily video devotions, sign up to get daily reminders or verses by text or email, read the Scripture for the week, and access other great ways to get deeper in your study.

Don't miss this terrific online resource!

• Pick up small group materials for your group whether you are getting for the first time or need more for others joining your group. All Hosts – bring a hardcopy printout of your Host eNewsletter (and at Lake Forest you’ll get in the priority line for quickest service!) Materials will be available every weekend at your campus through Feb 5, and at the Lake Forest campus ministry center from 9 -5 weekdays.
• You will get an email from Saddleback when there is someone interested in joining your group. Be sure to call every person who is interested in your group so they can find a group for this important series.
• Call, email or text each person you have invited, to remind them of the group meeting.
• Need more people for your group?
  • Five quick ways to grow your small group
  • How to get people to join your small group
• Get ready by watching the Introductory Small Group Host Training videos and also by reading the “Understanding Your Workbook” section in the front of the 40 Days in the Word workbook.
• Pray for each person in your group by name, prior to your first small group meeting.
• Online Hosts please log in to your Community Leaders Group Online Meeting Room for special instructions for Online Groups.

Before anyone arrives for your meeting, pray for God’s direction and guidance in your group, pray that everyone makes it there safely, and pray for each heart to be ready for what God has for them to learn from the study.

During your first meeting you’ll be going through Pages 1-9 of the workbook. Most home groups will have a brief time for conversation and a snack, start the group with prayer, and maybe even sing a couple of songs to get everyone in a worshipful frame of mind before opening the workbook. Then they’ll follow the workbook for that week.

End your meeting with letting each person in the group share one thing they would like prayer for and one thing they want to thank God for. This is the last thing on Page 9 this week. Then close your meeting with prayer.

One thing to remember – people appreciate when your group starts on time and ends on time. It will take a little clock watching on your part during the meeting but it will be worth it. Don't assume that because people are actively talking that everyone is able to stay past the allotted time.

The Homework Club serves at-risk kids in Santa Ana.The kids are putting on a play the evening of Thursday, Dec 15 for their families and friends and your group can help in two ways.

They need help putting some decorations up in the auditorium for the play.

And, they also need some people to bring cookies to give out to the students/families after the play is over.

What a great way to express Christ’s love at Christmas!

To sign up or get more information contact anne.menaldo@sausd.us or phone 949.422.5485.

One of the big questions we’re constantly asked is “What can I study next?”   I have some good suggestions.   In two or three weeks here are a few options that your group can do when the current study is over. 

• The Purpose of Christmas.  A 3 week study with a book, DVD, and workbook.
• The Way of a Worshiper.  A great 4 week study with a book, DVD, and workbook.
• Inside Out Living: What Jesus Says About Living a Blessed Life.  A 6 week study with a DVD and workbook.
• Talk It Over.  If you want to dig deeper into the weekend message go to http://saddleback.com/resources/talkitover/.  You can download expanded message notes with small group discussion questions and use this for your group meeting.  This is a free resource. 
• Check your campus for availability. Most of these titles are also available at the Pavilion on the Lake Forest campus.

Did you know that serving those in need is an act of worship to God? Join us on the weekend of December 10th and 11th for “Good Neighbor Weekend” where, in place of our church services, Saddleback Church will be going out to show compassion to our neighbors as our act of worship. Since your small group is currently completing Bill Hybels’ “Just Walk Across the Room” curriculum, this will be a great opportunity to put what you’re learning into action!

The two parts of Good Neighbor Weekend:

• Serving YOUR Neighbor: We will help equip you and your family to serve your direct neighbors. Wash their car, mow their yard, babysit their kids. Whatever you do, “Just walk across the street!”

• Serving OUR Neighbors: We have also created several opportunities for your small group to help serve the neighbors of Saddleback Church. Have a heart for kids, seniors, the homeless, or the military? Join us on one of our “Good Neighbor Projects.”

Begin talking with your family and small group about how you want to be a good neighbor on December 10th and 11th. In the coming weeks, we will put a card in the bulletin that tells you specifically how you can participate in Good Neighbor Weekend. Check out some other great serving ideas here.

In part one we shared five ideas for how to build commitment and consistency in your small group. In this article we’ll take this discussion to the next level by describing an intentional pathway for everyone in your group.

When someone joins your group how do you get them going toward become an involved and invested member of the group?

One way to handle this is to recognize that there are different levels of commitment in your group, just like in the church. Your goal is to help each person make greater commitments to the group.

Five levels of commitment

The first commitment level is the community – the people at this level aren’t in your group. Their commitment is zero. They may or may not know about your group, so it’s unreasonable to expect that they even show up. Your objective with the people in your community is to get one person or couple at a time to visit the group. Have everyone in your group make a list of your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors. Then pray for them. Then invite them.

The second level is the crowd – these are the people that visit your group. They come, they don’t come. They’re checking it out - they’re sort of there and sort of not. When it’s convenient, they’re there. When something better comes up, they’re not. Your objective with the crowd is to get them to make a commitment, to show up regularly, to be prompt and to be part of the group. Give these folks lots of encouragement and positive feedback when they participate. Make sure they get an opportunity to share every week. Include them in everything.

More serious commitment

The third level is the congregation (or membership) – these are the people who consider themselves members of your group. They have made a commitment to come almost every week and don’t miss often. They’re actively engaged in the discussions and they are getting involved in helping with some of the things that get done in the group. Your objective with the congregation is to get them to own a responsibility in the group. You can start by getting them in the rotation to “lead” the group. Leading can be as easy as facilitating the meeting – starting it on time, gathering everyone together, asking someone to open in prayer, starting the lesson, directing the discussion, starting prayer requests and asking someone to close in prayer.

The fourth level is the committed – these are the people who do the work of the group. They handle one of the purposes, they may offer their house as one of the host homes for the group, they go to leadership trainings at church so they can learn what’s expected of the group and how they can help steer the group, they are a greeter, encourager, welcoming person and all-around group booster. You want them to step up and champion one of the purposes like the social connection of meeting reminders or recognizing birthdays or anniversaries; or the person who looks for opportunities for the group to serve, either each other or outside the group; or the person who has a heart for others and finds ways the group can do outreach activities; or maybe someone who handles the worship part of your meetings. You and your co-hosts will be watching the people in your “congregation” closely to see what kind of interests and SHAPE they have, to see what they could be best suited to do in the group.

Your job with them is to help mentor them by encouraging and coaching, to help them assume overall group responsibility.

The fifth level of commitment

The fifth and final level is the commissioned – these are the people who co-host the group and share overall leadership/steering of the group. They get what the group is supposed to be doing and they’re instrumental in helping it come about. They could just as easily be the only host of the group. Your assignment with the commissioned is to gently help them get ready to launch their own group, or to take over leadership of the group while you launch a new group. Timing is totally up to you and them. Your prayer is that they will have learned from you and gained experience in the ways to lead the group and raise up leaders in the group. The objective is to raise up everyone over time and at their own pace.

It’s not hard

This pathway doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. It only needs you to be thinking about where everyone is in your group, and to raise up some co-hosts to help you develop everyone.

Your group may decide to stay together for life. Or, it may be a group that people grow up in and move out of as they graduate into starting a new group. The key is to help everyone grow.

We’ll talk next time about some of the tools you can use to help people make their next step commitment to the group.

If you prefer Twitter-length info, here are the points of this post in 140 characters or less.

• To get greater commitment in your small group, know where each person is and help them get to the next level.
• Help people in your small group feel like members and they’ll act like members.
• People who aren’t in your small group have zero commitment to it. Start them on the pathway by inviting them to visit.
• Don’t expect a visitor to your small group to be committed to it. Encourage them and ask them to join the group.
• When someone “joins” your small group, give them something to do so they can “invest” in the group.
• When a person commits to your small group, make them part of the “leadership team.”
• When someone becomes one of the leaders of your group, give them a bigger purpose.
• Encourage the purpose team of your small group to become the launch hosts of new groups.

The Christians in the Workplace study has been postponed until next Spring. We'll be announcing more details on this great small group study after the first of the year. Stay tuned!