Your First Meeting Instructions:
Be yourself. Take some time to talk with your guests over a simple snack like chips and salsa. Make everyone feel welcome. Make sure to get everyone’s name, telephone number and email address for future communication. Remember, you’re goal for this first meeting is to:
Take some time to let everyone get to know each other. Here are some useful first meeting icebreaker questions:
Talk about what you’re expecting this group to be about.
“We are going to…”
Learn the Bible Together. Each week we’ll come together, share some snacks or maybe a meal, and then circle up to talk about Sunday’s message with our Bibles open. Each week we’ll be challenged take a “next step” in our walk with Jesus.
Embrace Serving Together. This fall we’ll get the opportunity to serve together in the community. We’re going to come up with a project and serve together outside the walls of this house.
Assist One Another. We all need someone to lean on. We were not designed by God to be lone rangers. Our group will be there for each other in good times and bad.
Devote Ourselves to Generosity. In groups we’ll learn about generosity and we’ll challenge each other to be generous with our finances. There are all kinds of things we can do to be generous. Whether we help send students to summer camp, help send group members to Kenya, or reach into the community, we want to do everything we can to be generous.
Send People Out to Start New Groups. It’s our hope that in NewSpring Groups lives would be changed by Jesus Christ. In order to have optimal impact, we’ll challenge group members who catch our vision to rise and LEAD. When someone is sent from their group to start a new group, we’ll celebrate together because we believe the Found People Find People.
Explain to the group that we want this group to be a group where life change takes place. Of course, life change is the work of Jesus, but He hasn’t called us to sit idly by. He wants engaged in the process. What can we do?
Make plans for next week’s Kickoff Party. Who’s bringing what? Let’s make it a Kickoff party of epic proportions. We want your friends and family that you’ve invited to be drawn in by our group’s hospitality and personality. Make it fun.
Close the group by saying a short prayer. You could say something like this: “Jesus, thank you for an incredible night and an incredible group of people. We pray that you’ll give us lots of opportunities to invite people back to our kickoff party next week. Help us to know you better. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
If there’s time, take a few minutes to hang around and talk after the prayer. A typical group meeting should last no more than an hour and a half.
If you have any questions at all about leading your first meeting, please let us know. Email us at groups@newspring.cc.