On your first night of small group, your lesson is very important. This is your one chance to set a tone for your group for the rest of the semester or year! So, I want to share a possible template to use for your lesson for the first night of group.

 Lesson:

• Welcome everyone to group.
• Explain group big picture. I hope this will be a safe place. I hope we’ll grow together. Everyone comes into group with different backgrounds. It’s ok to ask questions and not have the answers.
• Ask if anyone’s been in a group before, and if so, what did they like about it?
• What expectations do you have for group this year? (What do you expect to get out of group?)
• Go over some group details. (Make sure to hit these clearly and directly. This is your best chance.)
  • Dinner/Snack. Have a sign up. Explain how everyone needs to help out in some way.
  • We usually say $5.00 a kid with a cap of $10.00 per family.
  • Explain childcare during group. The kids need to stay in the kid’s area unless they’re bleeding or dying. And childcare should NOT be crazy time. Put on Netflix, but it’s not a time for kids to run around, get sweaty and destroy your house. (Very important to establish this!)

Prayer:

• Explain that you’ll pray at the end of each group.
• Explain that this is a safe place to share requests about stuff going on in your life or things that matter to you. (It’s great that your great aunt’s Suzie’s neighbor’s dog just had 3 legged puppies, but I doubt anyone in your group’s losing sleep over it.)
• Try to keep requests short and too the point so there’s time to pray. (Establish this now.)
• Then pray.

For more info check out:

First Night of Group, Part 1: The Template

5 Ways to Make Your First Night of Group More Awesome