What To Do After The Story

There are five more weeks left of The Story – including this upcoming weekend as we celebrate Easter together!  The Story series will continue through May 2/3, which means that will be the final week your Life Group talks about The Story!  But the end of The Story  doesn’t have to mean the end of your Life Group!

Here are a few tips for what to do in your Life Group and how to continue your group as The Story comes to a close.

1.    Celebrate stories in your Life Group that have come out of The Story.
Set aside time in your Life Group to celebrate what group members have learned throughout The Story.  Consider setting aside one night of Life Group or a few nights to just share stories.  Ask group members questions like:
— What have you learned about yourself?
— What have you learned about God?
— How are you different because of The Story?
— How is your relationship with Jesus different because of The Story?
— How might you be able to share God’s story with others?

2.    Discuss the next series we’ll be doing as a church.
Directly following The Story, we’ll be doing a 6-week series on the topic of prayer at all of the weekend services.  The series will go from May 9/10 through June 13/14.  Life Group Leader Guides will be available for this series and they’ll be posted on the church website on Monday mornings.  This is a great chance for your Life Group to learn more about prayer together.  You can also talk with your Community Life Pastor about other ideas for what to lead in your group.

3.    Raise up new leaders.
As The Story series comes to a close, this is a great time to invite one or two members of your group into a leadership role.  Think and pray about anyone in your group that you see leadership gifts in.  Oftentimes people in your group need you to call out the gifts you see in them and invite them into more of a leadership role.  Who do you see leadership gifts in?  Who do you see that is following Jesus and could help others do the same?  Have a conversation with those people and ask them to pray about possibly joining you in leadership in the year ahead.  Talk with your Community Life Pastor about how to have these conversations and invite others into leadership.

4.    Take a summer break.
You’ve spent the past year pouring into your group and the men and women who come every week, but be sure to set aside time this summer to rest.  Take at least one month off – or consider taking June through August off just to give yourself a break from leading.  If you take the summer off, ask a few people in your group to be the social coordinators and to plan social activities that your group can do to stay connected during the break.  It’s so important for leaders to have this break as a time to rest.  You can also use this time to pray for your group and pray for whatever direction your group might take in the fall.