Movin' On Up

One of the many conversations I had at the KidMin Conference was about Small Groups in Children's Ministry. One leader shared that their small group leaders in elementary move up with their group each year before moving on to Youth. Another shared that their leaders move up through high school.

The way that our small groups are set up now is that there is one small group for first and second grade girls and another for boys. Then there is a small group for third grade girls and another for boys. Third grade is our largest single grade therefore we have them in a group of their own. Then there is a small group for fourth and fifth grade girls and another for boys. The leaders stay with their grade levels each year. For example, this is my second year with fourth and fifth grade girls. So I will have girls in my group for two years.

I am intrigued by the thought of our children having the same leader for multiple years walking through each level in their development and stage in life. I believe this fosters a level of trust over time that isn't possible in the usual one year model. This may be a consideration for ministries that have small groups divided for each year. I am not sure how that would work with how we break down our small groups. Because we have two grades together (first/second and fourth/fifth) the challenge would be when to move up and that we would be leaving one grade behind in the transition. I love this idea enough to keep it in mind when we do begin to break them down by individual grades.

Do your small group leaders move up each year? I would love to hear more about how that is working for your ministry.