Tapestry of Faith: Sharing the Journey: A Small Group Ministry Program with Youth

Facilitator Training Session, Part II (90 minutes)

MATERIALS

  • Newsprint sheet with list of fears from the previous session

PREPARATION

  • Know the regular meeting times for future facilitator support sessions.
  • A few days before this session, remind participants about the homework assignment.

DESCRIPTION

Opening (5 minutes)

Use your established opening ritual or invite a facilitation team to lead an opening from their homework.

Check-In (15 minutes)

Invite people to share a few sentences that capture how they are doing right now.

  • Start with silence. Let this unfold with very little facilitation to see how people experience it. Then, process with the following questions:
  • What did you notice as we did this?
  • What was it like to share?
  • What was it like to listen?
  • How was this different from last time?

Remind facilitators that in the small group, the check-in is not processed with questions. You have done so in the training session simply to allow facilitators the opportunity to observe the results of the process.

Focus (45 minutes)

Explain the "Uh-Oh Moment"—when we are facilitating and something comes up (either within ourselves or in the group) that we are unsure how to handle. Share the list of fears participants generated in the previous session. Ask volunteers if they can think of additional situations that would cause anxiety.

Identify the situations participants are most worried about. If some are not included here, create a scenario to use instead of or in addition to the Uh-Oh Moments provided. Then, lead the scenarios:

UH-OH MOMENT #1

Invite a small group ministry facilitator team to lead an opening, from their homework. Bring in the Uh-Oh Moment, as it makes sense. For example, if facilitators are worried about someone talking on and on about something off-topic, begin doing that as the opening begins.

Give the facilitators time to react.

Debrief:

  • What was going on?
  • What did you notice that the facilitators did a strong job of doing?
  • What suggestions do you have for them, or the group about how to handle an Uh Oh Moment?

UH-OH MOMENT #2

Invite a small group ministry facilitator team to lead a focus topic and discussion from their homework. Bring in the Uh-Oh Moment, as it makes sense. For example, if facilitators are worried about "cross-talk" (where two people are engaged in a side conversation), as soon as someone in the group responds to the topic, turn to them and say "Really? I had the same thing happen to me. Remember that time we were organizing the annual picnic and you-know-who forgot to bring the you-know-what... "

Give the facilitators time to react.

Debrief:

  • What was going on?
  • What did you notice that the facilitators did a strong job of doing?
  • What suggestions do you have for them, or the group, about how to handle an Uh-Oh Moment?

UH-OH MOMENT #3

Invite a small group ministry facilitator team to lead a closing from their homework. Bring in the Uh-Oh Moment, as it makes sense. For example, if facilitators are worried about someone making negative comments about the group, share that you thought the session today was really disappointing and poorly run.

Give the facilitators time to react.

Debrief:

  • What was going on?
  • What did you notice that the facilitators did a strong job of doing?
  • What suggestions do you have for them, or the group, about how to handle an Uh-Oh Moment?

Discuss other Uh-Oh Moments that have come up and new ones that people might contribute.

Questions (10 minutes)

  • What other questions do you have concerning small group ministry?
  • How are you feeling about the work ahead?

Activity (5 minutes)

Talk through next steps in the launching of small groups.

Check-Out (5 minutes)

Feedback/questions.

Closing (5 minutes)

Confirm time and location for monthly meetings.

Use your established closing ritual. Or, invite a facilitation team to lead a closing from their homework.