Here are 55 great ways to spice up your next small group meeting!
- Meet outdoors.
- Invite an unchurched neighbor.
- Read from a different Bible translation.
- Show a pertinent video clip.
- Divvy up all the responsibilities.
- Let recent additions to the group participate by giving them an assigned task.
- Bring an exotic dessert or dish.
- Invite someone from another country/cultural background.
- Give out a door prize.
- Serve communion.
- Have someone share a testimony.
- Substitute caffeinated coffee for the de-caf.
- Confess failures and pray for one another.
- Go to a nearby nursing home and visit the residents.
- Pile into someone's van, go to Wal-Mart, and put together a missionary care package.
- Take 10 minutes to have each person write an encouraging note to someone on your pastoral staff.
- Call a church-supported missionary on someone's speaker phone.
- Log on to the Internet and give each group member a couple of minutes to write a quick e-note to a church member serving in the military or to a college student studying in another state.
- Have the group take turns sharing what they appreciate about each member.
- Have a potluck.
- Have a barbecue.
- Agree to babysit the children of all the new moms in your church so they can run errands.
- Gather in a kitchen, bake chocolate chip cookies, and then deliver them in the neighborhood.
- Watch a missions video.
- Gather at the church and clean up (or paint or organize) a particular room (get permission first!).
- Have a "theme night." For more details see the book Supper Club by Michael Kendrick (Baker).
- Pray less than normal.
- Pray more than normal.
- Don't lecture!
- Draw out your quieter members with gentle questions.
- Take up a collection for a worthy cause.
- Sing some praise choruses.
- Have everyone pray out loud at the same time.
- Assign someone to read short selections from the writings of a noted Christian author.
- Do a "wild and crazy" mixer.
- Plan a worthwhile service project.
- Give your group a "personality" test so folks can get a better understanding and appreciation of one another.
- Have your group take a "spiritual gifts" survey (your pastor can help you find one).
- Have each member list one (small!) home-improvement "project" they've been meaning to accomplish. Make a six-month schedule for helping each other complete these projects.
- Dress formally and eat fancy hors d'oeuvres off fine china.
- Do a gift exchange (for under $3).
- Tell folks to bring their best clean joke or funny story. Take turns sharing.
- Give your apprentice sole responsibility of the meeting. Agree to consult and advise, but be "in the background" at the actual meeting.
- Pass out a group survey. Have members evaluate (anonymously!) all aspects of the group.
- Have someone read a psalm (or two or three) while everyone else closes their eyes.
- Play a game.
- Pray through the day's newspaper.
- Have each person share one personal goal for the next month for which they'd like accountability and prayer.
- Plan an overnight group camping trip.
- Give out silly awards to group members (don't tease too hard!)
- Using someone's digital camcorder, shoot and edit a "mini-movie" (e.g. an acted out Bible story, etc.) for future viewing.
- Greet one another with a holy kiss (heh, heh!).
- Change your meeting time to Saturday a.m. and have a huge breakfast together (pancakes, bacon, eggs, biscuits, juice, coffee—the works!)
- Meet in a new, different place.
- Meet in a public place.
