Small group ideas

Small groups are excellent ways to enable questions to be asked, or to go deeper with some. Mix them up. Groups of 4 will feel very different to groups of ten. You can have year 9 boys in one, year 9 girls in another, or mix up the sexes, or the ages! Or why not do something completely different. See some ideas below.

how do you split YOUR YOUTH into small groups?

First of all, it's worth saying that if you're already a small group, then you already get the benefits of being in a small group. Don't lose heart but lever what you have - the opportunity to know your group very well and to go deep in your discipleship.

Youth workers regularly ask, "How do you divide people into small groups?". Easy to say, "Here's the best way," but I'm not sure it's as easy as that. It depends on how big your group is, how many leaders you have and what you're trying to do. There are great things about staying in the same group, where people can be known and they'll trust leaders and each other.

SINGLE SEX, SINGLE YEAR GROUP

This is a great place to start. If young people stay in this group, preferably with the same leaders, they'll develop great relationships and be able to go deep.

But...

they're also stuck in the same group, potentially for years. That's brilliant if everyone get's on well, not so good if they don't. If all your leaders are excellent, it's great, if they're not, again it's more difficult because young people are stuck with the same leader for years. The call for staying in the group for years generally comes from a large year group who have great leaders and great relationships.

And...

If a young person is in a large year group, again this is excellent. There will always be life and vibrancy here. If they're in a small group of 1 or 2, will they come back month after month?

VARIATIONS

You can also change it regularly or occasionally:

FIX THE GROUP AND MIX THE LEADERS

There's nothing to stop you keeping the group of young people the same, but swapping leaders. If some leaders are better with older youth, keep them leading the top year or years, so every year or two, the group's leaders will change.

MIX YEAR GROUPS

Depending on your theme/passage and your group's size, you can mix year groups. Let's say you have 10 year 10s and 10 year 11s, you can have two mixed year 10 and 11 groups. That gets round being stuck with the same people if you don't get on, but also allows the possibility of one group going deeper.

Don't be too prescriptive though if you're doing it this way. What do you do when there are two best friends but one is more mature spiritually than the other?

MIX YEAR GROUPS (CONT...)

If your group has a small year group, or is generally smaller, you might mix year groups. Aim to have 6-12 regulars. You want to be a place where everyone can speak and be listened to, and there's not too much pressure on a small number.

MIX SEXES

Occasionally we gets a call, particularly from our older youth to mix sexes. You could have just the older year group mixed all the time. Alternatively, you could mix the sexes for a series. You might want to mix them for a more gospel-focussed series, but then separate them again for a series covering more lifestyle issues.

You could mix them regularly maybe once a month or once every half term.

MIX EVERYONE!

One day, we mixed everyone up into small groups. As a one off, it worked fantastically well, with our year 13 boys getting to know year 10 girls and vice versa. I wouldn't do it all the time, but it did work!.

choose your own small group

If you've got sufficient young people and leaders, why not get your youth to choose their own small group - going deep or looking on? They can choose.

Sara Parsons, Youth Pastor at St. Aldate's, Oxford, UK came up with four groups for her young people to choose: On the beach, paddling, snorkelling or scuba diving. Over time, you may need to encourage some people to move from snorkelling to scuba diving, say, who don't quite feel ready for it, but groups like these may be helpful to find where people think they are in terms of faith, enabling leaders to talk at the right level for them, helping them to go deeper, without being concealed by others in the group who are already mature. If you've got a large youth team, you'll probably already be able to think of which leader could lead each group.

Six months in, we're now finding unchurched young people have made their way (without any prompting) into the Snorkelling group, saying, "We've been here a while. We really think we should be going deeper." We've also got both 14-year-olds and 17-year-olds in the Scuba Diving group.

Download Triangular Prisms for Groups

(Note this prints on A3)

Ideas for Questions

Download Group Slide

EASY WINS IN A SMALL GROUP

It's really valuable to think about what you're trying to achieve: A warm welcome? Relationship-building? Fun? Deeper conversations? Prayer and response?

STARTERS

WOULD YOU RATHER?

Need some ideas?*

GLOW

LOW

HERO

High point, low point, and hero of the week

Mix it up with...

HIGHLIGHT

LOWLIGHT

SPIRITUAL INSIGHT

High point, low point, and a spiritual insight you've had this week

10 SECONDS

In 10 seconds, each person must name a boy's name, girl's name, animal, town/city, country beginning with a chosen letter. They've got to be said in the right order as well. Choose a different letter for each person.

TOP THREE

Movies, YouTubers, Instagrammers, interests, memories, possessions, foods, bands, books, sports, teachers, etc.

Share it in twos, then feedback.

SUSSED

Great card game to get people talking

Find out more**

GAMES RESOURCES

Need some ideas?

DRAW IT

Give each person a piece of white card and a pencil. Show them a line drawing for 10 seconds, then hide it for another minute or so while people finish their drawing. The most accurate copy wins. Each person can then draw something for others to copy.

* This link will take you to Conversation Starters World. I have no affiliation with the website, nor have I checked every suggestion it gives, but it will give you some ideas and will kickstart some more.

** This link will take you to the Sussed website if you want to find out more or buy the game. I have no affiliation with Sussed.

Starter& main

Get hold of a Fusion DMC (Deep, meaningful conversations) deck or a Discipleship deck to give you some great conversations. These are designed for students, so not all will be appropriate for all youth. You might want to take out some cards beforehand.

Check them out here

Raising the Bar Fire Pit (Tom Swinnen on

MAINS

FAVOURITE BIBLE STORY

All play.

FAVOURITE BIBLE BOOK

All play.

TESTIMONY

Prepare one to share (maybe start with a leader), then others can ask questions!***

FAVOURITE BIBLE VERSE

All play

*** If someone wouldn't call themselves a Christian, you could say, 'Could you tell me how you've come on a journey in the general direction of God?' or even, 'What brought you or keeps you coming to this group?'

MAINS

DISCUSS A VERSE

Prepare one to discuss that young people will engage well with, or young person can bring one.

WHAT QUESTION DO YOU MOST GET ASKED ABOUT CHRISTIANITY?

WHICH BIT OF THE BIBLE DO YOU STRUGGLE MOST TO UNDERSTAND?

Young people love to sit round a a fire pit!

Be creative:

Give young people marshmallows to toast (you can buy extra-long skewers)
Get individual portions of chips delivered
Ask an ice cream van to visit (yes, it may still be cold in the evenings, but is it ever too cold for ice cream?!)
Or a hot dog van
Or a hot chocolate van