Small Groups

This coming Sunday Eddie will be preaching on the theme Don’t Be Afraid to Speak. So I hope I don’t confuse you with this blog entry. Even though it may appear that our titles oppose each other, our messages are really in harmony. While Eddie will be challenging us to speak out on behalf of Christ, I want to caution you as Small Group leaders not to speak up too often in your group.

This is one of the most difficult lessons beginning teachers have to learn. When a question is asked, allow time for silence. While too much silence can be awkward, not allowing enough silence can be stifling. As leaders, we usually have in mind some of the answers we’re looking for when we ask a question, so the quiet time that occurs before people begin answering seems exaggerated to us. But, for those who are just hearing the question, they need time to formulate their response, to think through their reply, to mull over the truth they’ve just encountered. Offering answers too soon to our own questions can frustrate those who have something to offer but need more time, or it can create an atmosphere of laziness where the people rely on us to spoon feed them. Neither of these is a good scenario.

So, if you’re asking good questions, just relax and wait a little longer for the group to offer their responses. If too much time goes by, try rephrasing the question instead of offering an answer. Asking good questions that cause group members to formulate their own responses by thinking through the application of what they’ve been learning often goes farther than preaching to the group with the answers we’ve already arrived at. And, if we really listen to the group when they offer their responses, we might just find that they have something to offer us. So don’t be afraid of the silence.