Coming To Australia This June – Two SGN Small Group Conferences
The Small Groups with Purpose two-day conference is coming to two Australian cities, Melbourne and Sydney, in June. Steve Gladen, author, founder of the Small Group Network (SGN) and Small Group Pastor at Saddleback Church will be teaching live at the conferences. When and where? Melbourne on 15-16 June and in Sydney on 22-23 June. […]
Powerful Small Group Insights from Jakarta Indonesia
Alvi Radjagukguk is the pastor of small groups (and as of January 2018, the pastor of Community, consisting of seven other ministries) at Jakarta Praise Community Church in Jakarta, Indonesia. We chatted recently about his life and ministry. How did you get into ministry? In 1995 I was studying Finance and Marketing at a university in […]
Spotlight on our Adelaide Australia Huddle Leader
This post is from a recent conversation with Trevor Schiller of Hope Valley Uniting Church in Adelaide, Australia. Trevor leads a Small Group Network huddle and is the volunteer point person for the small group ministry in his church, serving with Pastor Scott Button. Trevor’s daytime job is as a solar sales consultant. What’s the […]
4 Small Group Leadership Insights (and a video) From A European Huddle Leader
This post is from a recent conversation with Frank Kozub of Oasis Pentecostal Church in Jastrzebie, Poland. Frank leads a Small Group Network huddle and is the point person for the small group ministry in his church. Frank is also a small group leader, one of five small group coordinators and a member of the […]
Confessions of an International Small Group Point Person
This is a message from one pastor leading the small group ministry in a church outside of North America. “There are many things that we have in common with our brothers and sisters in small group ministry in other countries. Yet, here are some pronounced differences between what we see in North American ministry and […]
5 Transferrable Principles You Can Learn from International Small Group Ministries
With 37 Small Group Network huddles in countries outside the US and Canada, what can you gain from the lessons of small group ministries all around the world? Check out these five transferrable principles: Never let a previous experience with groups deter you from trying new groups-based strategies. Many churches in Eastern Europe and other areas tried different […]
Feeling Discouraged? Five Secret Weapons You Can Use Today!
The great rock band R.E.M. wrote a song, Everybody Hurts, in which the refrain goes, “everybody hurts sometimes.” As anyone in ministry knows, they weren’t kidding! Discouragement is one of the primary obstacles facing every one of us as small group ministry leaders. No one seems to be immune from occasional moments of feeling defeated […]
The 5 Best Reasons You Should Start a Huddle
Maybe you’ve been considering starting a huddle. Perhaps a Small Group Network leader has been bugging you to do it. But, while you’re thinking seriously about it, you still struggle with a deeply personal question: what’s in it for me? Essentially, there are five personal benefits that you gain in starting a huddle: You’ll learn […]
What’s On Your Dashboard?
No one questions why we should collect metrics on how our small group ministries are performing. These measurements tell us how well our ministry approach is working, and they can be useful for everything from planning next year’s activities to justifying programs and budgets. A common way to view metrics is to use a dashboard, […]
How to Prevent Small Group Meltdowns
I worked in construction one summer break when I was in high school. It was hard work, I got a great tan, and I was sporting some serious muscles when school started up again. But I also learned a valuable lesson, called “measure twice, cut once.” While this lesson was about cutting wood, the universal principle was that […]
