Obstacles and Opportunities - Feb 4: Huddle Minutes

What a wonderful evening of food, fellowship and problem solving. I’m sure many of you could have stayed for another hour to discuss ways to create opportunities from the obstacles that you face as leaders of a Community Group. Below are the minutes from the Feb 4, 2020 meeting.

We discussed 2 obstacles and ways to overcome them:
1. Groups that struggle with finding the time to serve together or the motivation to do so.
2. Groups that have members that are not fully committed to attendance.

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Finding Time / Motivation to Serve: Ideas from leaders

1. Figure out your group members’ spiritual gifts and passions - when those are aligned, people may be more able/excited to serve.

2. Open up your project to other groups to participate by emailing CG office or posting the opportunity on the CG Facebook page. If you only have 2-4 people in your group interested in a project, inviting others could be a fun way to connect with others at CFC, giving more people the opportunity to serve.

3. Find a time to WRITE DOWN your plan for serving as a group. Written goals discussed within a group are more difficult to break. In that plan, include the dates of when you hope to serve - even if a project is not in place at that time.

4. Start small. Your group doesn’t have to do a huge project. Join up with an organization that’s already doing something and pitch in! See recommendations here!

5. If your group has small children, one couple can volunteer to watch the kids while others volunteer. Rotate that responsibility.

6. As a leader, decide ahead of time on the project and invite others to participate. Many times, members really do want to serve, but can’t make the decision on what to do. If it’s already planned, they just need to sign up and do it!

7. Schedule your serving on the day you meet! If you typically meet on Wednesdays at 6 p.m., decide to go into the community and serve on that same evening once a trimester or more frequently!

8. Start off every trimester with a reminder to your group that serving is part of being in a Community Group at CFC, and it’s important to you as a leader to include that opportunity each trimester.

9. Take a Sunday morning or Saturday night to do something in the community.

10. Take time to really pray as a group about how you all will serve.

11. Designate someone to be in charge of getting the ball rolling with service projects.

Members are not fully committed to attending your group: Ideas from leaders

1. Meeting every week helps to establish a routine and expectation. Leaders have found that people are more committed if the group is held every week. And when they cannot attend one week, there will not be a whole month that you don’t see him/her.

2. Communicate your meeting dates clearly (and even at the bottom of all your emails to your group), so there’s no mistake about when you’re meeting. Include “break” dates too so members know what to expect. See the CFC CG trimester schedule here.

3. Express your commitment as a leader to prepare for group and block your schedule each week and ask that each member have the same commitment.

4. If a meeting is cancelled for some reason, plan a meeting for just the men or just the women. If you have a men or women’s only group, try and keep in touch via text or a phone call to stay in touch. Or get together one-on-one with someone.

5. A continuous text thread or email chain is beneficial to staying in touch with group members throughout the week. Staying in touch throughout the week also helps to minimize a lot of the catching up before or after group. One group even just does a prayer chain via phone calls.

6. Figuring out a study that is appealing for all will help people stay engaged. Knowing what your group can handle is key (homework, bible reading, etc). Keep connected with other leaders through FB page about what studies have worked well for them.