Coaching the Small Group Leader - Gina McClain

Gina is a fantastic friend and I love hearing her heart for small group leaders.

Today I attended her workshop

Coaching the Small Group Leader

Here are my notes.

How to Best Coach Your Small Group Leaders

Clear Goals. Clear Values.

Goals tell people where we are going. Goals give them direction and something to focus on.

Values are the behaviors that you want your small group leader to embrace.

They are a foundational piece that must be in place.

Why are goals and values important?

Empowering

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work

and build up the church, the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:12

Ways clear goals and values empower

Knowledge

What do you want me to do and how do you want me to do it?

Priorities

Small group leaders are inundated with information.  

Let them know what the bottom line is that you want the kids to leave knowing. 

Make sure they know that prayer time is important.

Expectations

Sit down and actually tell them what is expected.

What’s ok and what’s not.

Language

Give them the words that communicate the values you want them to embrace. 

You can use the ones shared in Lead Small.

If you create your own – keep it memorable and simple.

Have a strategy to cultivate your goals and values.

What sows your goals and values into your ministry?

They have to encounter them every way every time they serve.

Prioritize your influence

You speak into their lives.

You leverage influence of your key influencers.

Invest time. Invest vision. Invest heart.

Highlight the win

Share stories with your small group leaders, parents, and your Pastor.

When you highlight the win you communicate what is most important.

Communicates that there are valuable things happening there and I want to be involved.

That parent is potentially a small group leader. They just haven’t said yes yet. Telling a story can make the yes happen.

Ask the right question

How did it go? Vs. how did the kids connect with the story?

This will cause them to not only look at what they’ve done but also how they will lead in the future.

Help them think small

How you equip them matters.

Supplies, information, and kids

Supplies (communicates for the group of ten rather than all kids)

Information (communicate what matters most – bottom line, prayer time, connections made in group) kids (roster of kids for each sgl – those are your kids. They know who they are connecting with and praying for each week. Love on these kids and really know them.)

They won’t fully invest in their 10 the way I want them to until I give them the 10.

Area matters.

Large rooms vs classrooms

Emphasize small within the big (greatest tool – rug for each small group)

Deepening your bench

Find your best equippers.

They can help build your 2nd string. 

(pair them up with new leaders. They can explain what we do and why we do it.) 

They become stronger leaders.

Develop a culture of invitation.

Make it part of what you do – constantly invite.

Church wide vs ministry specific.

Gina McClain is originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. A graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, she worked in International Banking before joining the staff of LifeChurch.tv in 1999 where she remained for over a decade. Currently, Gina is the Children’s Ministry Director at Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gina is driven by the idea of equipping parents for the journey of teaching their kids how to follow Christ. Based upon her experience as a mom, she identifies with the everyday challenges parents wade through. Gina and her husband, Kyle, have three kids, Keegan, Josie and Connor.
Blog: www.GinaMcClain.com
Twitter: @gina_mcclain