Preview of Russ Robinson on Saturday

As I have been praying about the upcoming Small Groups Leadership Conference, I realized that the speaker, Russ Robinson, will be very new to many of you. Russ has co-written three books on small groups and will be releasing a new book soon. For many years, Russ was the executive director of small groups at Willow Creek before returning to his private law practice. What makes Russ such a great resource is that he comes from trenches of leading a group, so he knows a leader's struggles first-hand.

As I reviewed the handouts for the event on Saturday, I got a sense for the direction he will be taking us on Saturday. One of the topics of discussion is on creating community. Here is some information to help you better understand what it takes to create community within a small group. This is based on the book Building A Church Of Small Groups.

Creating Authentic Community

Self-Disclosure: To know and be known
Care Giving: To love and be loved
Humility: To serve and be served
Truth-Telling: To admonish and be admonished
Affirmation: To celebrate and be celebrated

"Spiritual growth cannot take place apart from community, and the fruit of such growth can only be expressed in community."

As you can tell, the five characteristics listed above are not easy, natural practices found in our lives. They each require an intentional effort on the part of small group leaders to provide the environment for authentic community.

Spend some time this week praying and thinking about how "authentic" the fellowship within your group is today. Feel free to post comments on one or more of these characteristics and how your encourage their practice in your group.