If your small group is doing an extended study together a blog can be helpful in keeping you connected. Our church is currently doing a sermon series through the book of Proverbs and we have challenged the church to read a chapter per day and do some memorization through the process. One of our Home Teams (small groups) is blogging through each chapter and using the blog to stay communicate through the daily reading.
I think it is another great idea of how to use web 2.0 technology to aid us in enhancing group life in our churches. I also believe it adds a social element to reading the Bible since you can discuss a chapter and share your thoughts immediately with your group. If you were going to blog through a book of the bible with your small group how would you do it?
How do you measure the progress of a small group ministry? How do you know if you, as a champion for small groups in your church, are accomplishing your goals? First, you actually have to have them!
Kevin Stone, our Executive Pastor, is a big fan of the S.M.A.R.T. method. Goals must be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time based
But the hardest part of that list for a small group ministry can be the measurable piece. That is where the functionality of web 2.0 tools can help. There are two ways we as ministry leaders can keep our finger on the pulse of our small group ministry.
1. Stories - You have to record the life events that occur in your group ministry and help them spread like wild fire! If you are plugged into tools like we have discussed a bit in this series of posts, you can use the web to help you do that. Listen to people in your church when they tell you stories of life change. Encourage leaders to share their group's life experiences on blogs, message boards, and other social networking tools on the net. If you don't have a place on the net to share these experiences use the message board on our small group website, it is so easy to use when you register for a free account!
2. Statistics - You have got to measure attendance in your groups. Especially as a group ministry begins to grow in your church. Here how measuring attendance helps:
- It helps with enrollment retention. If we don't measure attendance and people stop attending a group, how do we know why they stopped attending? Maybe the group that they visited for a few weeks wasn't a good fit. By tracking attendance we can place a follow up phone call and try to plug drop outs into a group that may be a better fit.
- It identifies a group of people that are committed to building community and spiritual growth. The people that are committed to group ministry and attend regularly are the same people that will serve your church, and volunteer their time when there is a need. There have been numerous occasions we have tapped into our small group ministry to get help. One significant moment that comes to mind was when we experimented with a Saturday night service. Our small groups signed up together to serve and help that service happen each week.
- It helps make staffing decisions. As a group ministry grows there are decisions that need to be made about leadership development, training, and support. Without data to measure the need, how can you make a sound decision?
There are a few great tools you can use to help you gather data on your groups. Two that I have experience with are Fellowship One and ChurchTeams. If you have very little experience with this sort of thing I would recommend starting with the 30 day trial that ChruchTeams offers for free. There are two great features that I love about this tool.
1. It can link to your church website so people can enroll in groups online
2. It sends reminders to group leaders via email to post their attendance.
It is an easy to use affordable tool that will help you get started on the data collection path for your ministry.
Update: I just got off the phone with a church in Maryland that is considering ChurchTeams as a tool for their group ministry. The conversation resulted in addressing the same concerns I have for a growing group ministry - "Can I see when a new person doesn't show up?" The answer is yes! The web based software produces a report that you can pull up every week if you want to. It will show you every member of each group, who attened and who missed out.
In my previous posts on this topic we covered Small Groups 2.0 for social groups and traditional (study) small groups. In this post I want to cover task groups.
Some churches that are working on being churches of groups instead of a church with groups classify their ministry teams as small groups as well. These type of groups would include ushers, security, parking, tech teams, and the band.
Our CCV band also uses a website to enhance their productivity as a ministry of our church. Here is how they use the website:
To schedule and manage auditions for the student (teen) and adult band
To schedule the student and adult band
To schedule the student and adult tech teams
To access the song list for each Sunday service
To access the song library to download sheet music (password protected)
For task oriented groups technology has everything to do with productivity and very little with social purposes. These groups spend significant time practicing, and serving together so the need to enhance the social experience just isn’t there because their social experience is in the act of serving together as a group. When trying to deterimne how technology can enhance our groups we must always start with answering the question, "What does our group need?" Then look to technology to help meet that need.
Next Post - using tech to track your group ministry
My latest series of posts is all about how social networking tools on the internet can enhance our small group ministry. My last post shared how our social groups use blogging as a tool but it doesn’t end there!
Another group in our church that utilizes blogging to keep enhance their group experience is one of our Young Adults Home Teams. Home teams at Christ’s Church of the Valley are traditional small groups that study the Bible and socialize together.
This group started their blog in April of 2007 and have been using it for over a year now to enhance their group life experience. They utilize blogging for the following reasons:
- To notify the group of the meeting schedule
- To inform members of cancellations
- To schedule social events
- To share pictures with group members
- To remind group members of reading assignments and homework prep for future meetings and discussions
This small group is a prime example of how to make blogging work to enhance group life. Has your small group ever taken a picture together at an event or a meeting that you wanted to share? Setting up a blog for your group can help you do that, plus it provides you with a place where you can record your memories from seeing that picture and your group members can comment and share their thoughts as well. However, while maintaining a blog is quite simple it does take a little time. So, before jumping into the blogosphere, I would recommend sitting down with your group and asking them what they would like to use a blog for so you appropriately meet the need . For example, if your group only wanted to share pictures, and nothing else, you may want to use a photo sharing website like flickr instead. This way you are not wasting your time maintaining a blog but still using Web 2.0 technology to enhance your group experience.
Photo sharing on the internet would be a great place to start for any group. Especially if using the web is a new thing for them.
UPDATE: I just talked to the group leader and they are upgrading their blog to include some other features! I post on them again in the near future to let you know what they are up to!
Next post – task groups and the web.
Question: what kind of ways can you think of for small groups to use blogging?
Does your small group ministry take advantage of all that the web has to offer? Are you utilizing all of the functionality of Web 2.0? In order for us to dig deeper into how the web can enhance your small group ministry experience we first should define what Web 2.0 is. Here is how Wikipedia defines it:
Web 2.0 is a term describing a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.
Does all of this 2.0 stuff really enhance group ministry? ABSOLUTELY, because it is all designed to encourage relationships, networking, and social interactions in an online setting! Plus, the best part about it is that it is ALL FREE. Your ministry can take advantage of all these tools at no additional cost.
Over the next few posts I will be going over how we use these technologies in our church and specifically our small group ministry context. Then I will post a list of online resources so you can get started with your small group or your ministry.
The type of small group that blogging, in particular, is great for is our social groups. Blogging about upcoming schedules, events, locations, pictures from previous events, all can really enhance the experience for members of a social small group in your church. Plus, like I said earlier... it's all free, and free is good. Here is an example of a social group at our church that utilizes a blog to help stay connected. The group is called our "Small Wonders Play Group." Click here to view their page.
As you can see the front page is static (it doesn't change) and you can tell because it is dated 2007 when they started using it. But notice that it is password protected. Once a new mom joins the group she receives a password and can view the current schedule and other content to keep up on the group's activities. Using simple social networking tools like these will provide our groups with an easy way to stay organized and enhance a small group experience. Especially for younger generations that expect technology to be more integrated into everyday life.
Feel free to post questions in the comments section and I can answer them in future posts.
