LifeGroups

LifeGroups Ideas

At LifeGroup Leadership Ignition 2005 LifeGroup we brainstormed about how a LifeGroup can practically live out the 5 purposes - to worship, reach, connect, grow, and serve - as a LifeGroup.  THANKS TO ALL PARTICIPATED IN THIS BRAINSTORMING!  THIS IS A BIG LIST OF GREAT IDEAS! 

Please consider using some of these ideas or others of your own to make your LifeGroup a well-rounded 5-purpose LifeGroup.

WORSHIP
-- Listen together to worship song on CD or watch worship DVD
-- Sing together with CD
-- Sing together with instrument
-- Spend time as group in prayers of adoration
-- Read a Psalm together
-- Meet outside in nature
-- Share what God is doing… “I praise you God for….”
-- Take up offering in LifeGroup
-- Service project
-- Attend a worship concert together
-- Himprov – Bent Tree Bible Fellowship
-- Do some worship art together – painting, journaling, poetry
-- Visit other worship services together
-- Have children lead a time of worship at LifeGroup
-- Have a worship time with families at LifeGroup
-- Have group share stories of how they worship personally
-- Dancing – “Limbo for the Lord”
-- Watch a movie like “The Passion of the Christ” together
-- Listen to a song that applies to the study or season of study
-- Pray Scripture
-- Meditation and Reflection together
-- Talk about how each person worships daily
-- Celebrate church traditions (i.e. Passover, etc)
-- Celebrate communion as a LifeGroup
-- Travel to Colorado together – worship and pray on Pike’s Peak or at Garden of the Gods
-- Meet once at Dallas Arboretum and enjoy creation
-- Memorize Scripture and recite to each other
-- Memorize Scripture and create a presentation where everyone recites in turn
-- Write a song together
-- Have someone dramatically act out a section of Scripture like Phil 2:1-11
-- Study worshipful art
-- Tap into creativity – take something from nothing to something
-- Talk about ideas for family worship at home

REACH
-- Get involved together with someone who is hurting
-- Get personal with each other and follow up
-- Ask a non-believing friend how you can pray for them
-- Lunch session with co-workers
-- Start a group at work
-- Meet people through your children – playgroups, kids at LifeGroup

-- Multiply your group to make more room for others
-- Host a LifeGroup blog and invite lost friends in
Focus on neighborhood – invite over, BBQ
Take natural neighborhood opportunities to meet neighbors (Halloween, National Night Out)
-- Book clubs
-- Respond to crisis as a group
-- Show "Jesus Film" or “Most” (available at church) and invite unsaved friends
-- Go to non-threatening place and invite others
-- Rotate over time through your groups’ homes having neighborhood out-reach events – ice cream, BBQ, parade, etc
-- Serve together in Legacy’s English Language Program for internationals (see June Zheng)
-- McGruff house
-- Have a neighborhood social director
-- Get involved in your home owners association
-- Neighborhood Easter egg hunt a home of one of your members
-- Pray for lost friends
-- Over time prayer walk the neighborhoods of each of your members
-- Walk up drive in (show movie in one of your neighborhoods on a projector with big screen - plan for how to keep bugs out of the projector!!)
-- Dog day afternoon
-- Movie night – buy a bunch of dollar movie tickets for a certain movie at a certain time and pass them out to people in everyone’s neighborhood
-- Serve parents while kids are trick or treating
-- Go to baseball game together and invite friends
-- Superbowl Party and invite friends
-- Be a real person
-- Come as a group to church events and invite others
-- Invite neighbors to participate in community events and causes with your group
-- Join a sports team together
-- Invite someone you’ve never met to sit by you in church
-- Meet at McDonald’s or Chik-fil-A – meet parents while your kids play
-- Pray for needs
-- Servant Evangelism (acts of kindness in community – missions money at church is available)
-- If a group member has a hurting or sick friend, have your group sign a card (write prayers) and mail
-- Block party in neighborhood of one of your LifeGroup members
-- Get to know extended families of group members - invite them to socials
-- Set up open chair at every meeting and talk about it
-- Keep a running list of friends, neighbors, co-workers the group is trying to reach
-- Social at home, park, pool specifically for inviting new friends
-- Have group meeting at Starbucks or somewhere you can intentionally engage people

CONNECT

-- Use ice breakers
-- Eat Together
-- Game: "Life Stories"
-- Serve together in a crisis
-- Go camping as a group
-- Building project
-- Have each person share their personal story
-- Care enough to ask
-- Create an intimate atmosphere
-- Leaders need to model transparency – be the first to share (even plan as the leader how you'll model transparency)
-- Be vulnerable
-- Be comforters
-- Be accepting
-- Use Yahoo Groups or have a group blog
--Rotate houses and leadership to get to know each other better
-- Parties and games
-- Double date nights
-- Gender-based gatherings
-- Lunches together
-- Starbucks
-- Bowling, Main Event, etc
-- Go as a group to an event
-- Help each other with home projects
-- Book club
-- Take prayer requests, pray and then email requests to group
-- Call on the phone or stay in touch through email through the week
-- Accountability partners
-- Be there for special moments in the lives of your group’s families
-- Two families out to dinner together
-- Find non-threatening ways to connect
-- Connect socially first
-- Weekend retreats together
-- Movie nights
-- Share secrets
-- Break into gender-based groups sometimes at LifeGroup meetings
-- Share struggles
-- Be available any time
-- Be sure everyone’s cell number is in everyone’s phone
-- Follow up
-- Shopping Day
-- Potluck

GROW
Things to get group out of comfort zone:

-- Service project
-- Share and hold accountable
-- Talk about money
-- Share your family budget with LifeGroup and hold accountable
-- Meet new people even if you are shy
-- Go camping
-- Go rappelling
-- Go mountain climbing
-- Go canoeing
-- Road trip together – something will go wrong… work through it
-- Serve others in uncomfortable places
-- Pray for each other – surround and hands on
-- Time of worship
-- Involve in unpleasant social need – shelter, AIDS home, etc
-- Pray as a group for group members to grow together
-- Create healthy conflict – e.g. hold a debate
-- Mission Trip together
-- Get non-talker to talk
   1) Stop the talkers
   2) Get to know them… then call on them
   3) Give responsibility
   4) Split into smaller groups

-- Memorize Scripture
-- Give assignments to share next week
-- Serving homeless as a group

Things to share when you are together:

-- Family issues
-- Testimony
-- Personal prayer requests and praises
-- Things you are learning
-- Your dreams
-- Your fears
-- Your strongholds
-- Have a “be transparent night”
-- Who are you?
-- How has your Christian experience applied to work?
-- Share missed opportunities
-- Share how you nailed it or blew it this week
-- Share struggles
-- Share what God’s been telling you
-- Ask “I feel” questions
-- Share how each person has personal time with God
-- Share stories of risking something and succeeding

-- Share a time when you saw God move supernaturally
-- Dig into God’s word
-- Share stories where you stepped out of faith
-- Share an experience of growing through trials
-- Talk about how people are doing with Life Mission Questions
-- Share stories of hearing God’s voice and obeying
-- Share stories of God’s movement among us
-- Gender-based accountability or Bible study groups

SERVE

-- Serve at a hospital together once or regularly
-- Provide air conditioners/fans to needy
-- Coats – gather them and go together to give away
-- Serving a LifeGroup member with a need (meals, yard work, etc)
-- Do fund raiser together for a cause or for the church
-- Serve another LifeGroup with a crisis (meals, etc)
-- Serve a friend or family member or one of your group members
-- Call another LifeGroup and offer as a group to watch their kids so they can have date night or LifeGroup party
-- Poll your group for one-day home projects among the group that need to be done and then schedule a time through the year for the group to do each project
-- Serve people in nursing home – tea, Christmas décor, etc
-- Shoes and clothes for anyone in need
-- Replace prayer time one night with a polling of everyone for something they need help with.
-- Serve by hosting a LifeGroup
-- Clean a park
-- Serve at a community organization like CITY House once or regularly
-- Help someone move
-- Lend an extra car
-- Serve together in a ministry of the church on Sunday morning or another time of the week
-- Pray for people
-- Serve internationals among us – serve in Legacy’s English Language Program
-- Go on Mission Trip together
-- As a group, sponsor someone to go on a mission trip
Serve in the children’s ministry together
-- Sponsor World Vision children together as a group – share letters and info about sponsored kids as they come in
-- Serve in soup kitchen