COMPONENTS OF SMALL GROUP IN THE BOOK OF ACTS

• Fellowship​ - “They joined in the fellowship . . . and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” (Acts
2:42-47). Christian fellowship is vital in a healthy relationship. Unless people feel safe and connected to
each other, relationship will suffer.

• Discipleship ​- The Bible says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” In Mark 3:14, it says
that Jesus “appointed twelve . . . that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.”

• Ministry​ - They gave “to everyone who had need.” Christ is the perfect example of someone who serves
from the heart. As followers of Christ every Christian was meant to serve. One of the most rewarding things
a care group can do is serve together. Service projects create a unique bond among the care group
members, and they often provide opportunities for evangelism.

• Evangelism​ - “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”​ ​The care group will
not grow without evangelism. In fact, evangelism is the ultimate purpose of the church’s existence. The
most important component in care group is the winning of souls for God’s kingdom.

• Worship ​- “They devoted themselves . . . to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . . [They were] praising
God.” “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by
worshipping Him with holy fear and awe” (Hebrews 12:28 NLT).

FELLOWSHIP ​Care Group Activities

▪ Provide ice breakers.

▪ Have a game night.​ Surprise the group with a night full of games and fun. Choose interactive games that
are simple and fun.

▪ Give appreciation.​ Have one individual sit on a chair in the center of the room and say, “What I like best
about you is . . .,” or “You are important to our group because . . .”

▪ Celebrate special events.​ Take time to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, etc., by sending a card or bringing
out a cake at the end of the meeting. Make the group members feel loved.

▪ Share your New Year’s Resolution.​ Have group members make a commitment to spiritual resolution.

▪ Visit another group.​ Surprise another Care Group with a quick visit and offer a prayer for their group, and
then be on your way. This is a fun way to show love and appreciation.

▪ Share God’s work in your life. ​Ask group members how God has worked in their life during the past week.

▪ Tell a story.​ Ask group members to come to the next meeting prepared to tell a story. This can be a story
about how they were saved, how they were engaged, their wedding day, etc.

▪ Ask group members to think of three things that most people do not know about them.

▪ Plan a social event outside your usual meeting.​ Have meals together, go to a ball game, or do something
you all enjoy.
▪ Visit members who are sick​. When a member is ill or in the hospital, make sure you remember them in
some way. Instead of doing the usual group meeting, go visit them.

▪ Spiritual retreat.​ Plan a weeklong or overnight spiritual retreat for the adults.

DISCIPLESHIP ​Care Group Activities

▪ Practice Time Alone with God (TAG). Encourage everyone to ​spend time alone with God. Suggest passages
they can study for their own devotional time.

▪ Simplify your life. ​Discuss the following questions: How does your busyness hinder your ability to listen to
God? What activities that could be omitted from your life?

▪ Ask group members to share their spiritual practices.

▪ Share your favorite verse.​ Ask group members to bring in one of their favorite Bible verses for the following
week. During that meeting, ask them to read the verse and explain why it is one of their favorites.

▪ Share your spiritual journey.​ Ask group member to share their spiritual journey which may include details
about childhood experiences, important events, and how they come to know Christ.

▪ Characteristics of Christ’s followers​.​ Pass a piece of paper and ask each group member to come up with ten
characteristics of a Christ follower.

▪ Eliminate the garbage from your life.​ Have a discussion about the garbage that is in each of our lives such as
unhealthy television shows, music, books, etc. Ask group members to commit to removing one piece of
trash from their life.

▪ Bible Person you want to emulate.​ Ask group members, “What character in the Bible do you most relate to?
Then ask them to explain their choices.

▪ Book reading. ​Choose an evening to read from a book of the Bible together. Select a book and then ask for
volunteers to read sections of the book aloud. Encourage members to concentrate on the words as the
other person reads.

▪ Bearing spiritual fruit. ​Read Galatians 5:22-23. Ask members which fruit of the Spirit is most apparent and
which is least apparent in their lives. Discuss how they could improve upon the areas of weakness.

▪ Plan a community project.​ ​Serving your community is a great opportunity for growth. Discuss with your
group a community mission project and do it.

▪ Values you learned from others.​ Ask your member to share a story of someone in their life they respect.
Then ask them to discuss these questions: What character traits do you respect? What do you want people
to remember about you when you die?

▪ Share leadership.​ When you share leadership, you empower people to grow and develop their leadership
skills. You are preparing them for greater responsibilities.
▪ Significant mentor.​ Ask group members to share who has had the greatest impact on their spiritual walk.
What did that person do or say that had such a significant impact? Ask each one could make a greater
impact in the lives of others.

▪ Encourage group members to mentor someone else.​ During a group meeting, discuss those who have
served as mentors in their lives.

▪ Give an encouraging word.​ Read Hebrews 3:13 to your group, emphasizing the phrase, “encourage one
another daily.” Other verses you can include: 1 Thess. 5:9-11 and 2 Thess. 2:16.

▪ Challenge​ your members to encourage at least one person every day for the next week and share their
experience the following meeting.

EVANGELISM​ Care Group Activities

▪ Make a list of people you want to reach.​ Ask your group members to list at least five non-Adventist people
(relatives, friends, neighbors, co-worker, etc.) they would like to be saved in God’s kingdom. Let them bring
the lists to your group meeting every week and spend some time praying for the names.

▪ Who invited you?​ Ask group members who invited them into the church. How did that person go about
inviting them? Then ask group members to commit to inviting someone to the care group meeting or to the
church during the next week.

▪ Feed the hungry. ​Discuss with your members to possibility of doing a feeding program to the community.

▪ Invite a neighbor or friend over for dinner. ​Plan a dinner experience with your friend or neighbor in your
house or in a restaurant if you can afford and enjoy time together.

▪ Invite a neighbor or a friend to our church.​ Think of someone you want to invite to the church. Pray for that
name and invite him or her to church.

MINISTRY​ Care Group Activities

▪ Live the truth you learn.​ Continually look for ways your care group members can put into practice the things
you are learning.

▪ Appreciation.​ Plan an appreciation celebration at a local school or government office. You can thank these
people for the services they are doing. Write notes of appreciation for their commitment and hard work
and a few boxes of doughnuts or cookies.

▪ Have a discussion about how each member can use his or her gifts to serve others​. All members of your
group need to discover, develop, and deploy their God-given assignment. As a group, brainstorm ways each
of you can use your gifts within the group.

▪ Take time to tell stories about service.​ Request someone who do community service to share his or her
stories. Such stories are encouraging to the rest of the group and also honor the member who is serving.

▪ Good neighbors.​ Spend a group meeting discussing the needs of your neighbors. As a group, decide which
need to meet.
▪ Reach out to the grieving family​. Take meals, send flowers, or even take care of practical matters such as
running errands.

▪ Caring for the poor.​ Who are the poor in your community? What is the church doing to help their needs?
Choose a location that your group can extend a helping hand to the poor. Jeremiah 22;16 tells us, “He
defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? ‘
declares the Lord.”

▪ Love your enemy.​ As Christians we are called to a higher standard to love our enemies (Luke 6:27). Ask your
group members to think of someone who irritate them and accept the challenge to serve that person in
love this week. How did it go? How did they feel afterward? Did serving that person change the way they
feel about him/her?

▪ Make ministry a regular part of your group.​ Spend sometimes brainstorming as a group to come up with
possible serving projects so that everyone will have a sense of ownership in the projects.

WORSHIP ​Care Group Activities

▪ Break into prayer groups of three or four.​ Think of specific people who serve in your church and pray for
God’s blessings in their lives.

▪ Pray for people you know who have wandered from the faith. ​Ask God to show you if there is anything you
can do to bring them back. James 5:19 says, “If you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth,
don’t write them off . . . Get them back” (Message).

▪ Express your love to the church.​ As a group, make a list of things you love about this church. Then spend
time thanking God for bringing you to this church. Then ask group members: “What one thing we do to
make our church even better?” Decide how your group can make that happen.

▪ A night of worship.​ Ask group members to bring their favorite worship song ( on CD or DVD) to the next
group meeting. During that meeting, play each person’s song and ask the person to share what that song
means to him or her.

▪ Traits of God​.​ During your meeting make a list of character traits of God (forgiving, loving, and so forth),.
After you have listed all of the traits you can think of, spend some time in praying and thanksgiving for
these traits.

▪ Surrender an unhealthy habit.​ As an act of worship and to please the Lord, what unhealthy habits you are
willing to give up (a TV show, X - rated movies, a magazine subscription, a place you visit, or unhealthy
relationship).

▪ Scripture memorization.​ Challenge group members to memorize one verse of the Bible every week. Suggest
they write it down on an index card and put it in a place where they will see it often. Ask group members to
recite one of their memorized verses during a group meeting.

▪ Confess your sins.​ John 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may
be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results”(NLT). Ask the
questions, “Have they ever confessed their sins to someone? How did it go?
▪ A healthy and growing spiritual life demonstrates an authentic relationship with other Christians
(fellowship), learning biblical principles (discipleship), using gifts and abilities to serve others (ministry),
reaching out to others (evangelism), and praising God and surrendering to Him (worship).

HOW TO HANDLE PROBLEM SITUATIONS

▪ Case 1:​ During a lively discussion you notice that the members are beginning to drift away from the topic of
focus. ​Problem:​ ​Losing focus, drifting discussion

▪ Suggestion:​ Politely intervene and point out the drifting tendency. Call the group back to the topic.
Determine if the group wishes to change directions and pursue the new topic and/or schedule it for future
meeting.

▪ Case 2:​ A question is asked by a group member, but the group moves on without giving consideration to
the question.​Problem :​ ​Failure to recognize a member’s contribution

▪ Suggestion:​ Call the group back to the unresolved question. Seek an answer or determine how and when
an answer can be pursued.

▪ Case 3:​ The group consists of twelve members, yet only four people take an active part in the discussion.

▪ Problem :​ ​Unbalanced participation patterns

▪ Suggestion​:​ You may divide the group into smaller groups to discuss the issue, and then have each
subgroup report to the whole group. Or conclude your question to the group by saying, “Let’s hear from
someone who hasn’t commented yet.”

▪ Case 4:​ A group member verbally attacks a suggestion given by another member.

▪ Problem: ​Hostility toward a person’s idea

▪ Suggestion:​ Interrupt tactfully. Affirm the right to disagree. Remind both individuals of the participation
standards outlined in the group’s covenant. Suggest whatever restitution is necessary to calm feelings.

▪ Case 5:​ A certain group member is prone to answer all questions and give comments on all issues.

▪ Problem:​ ​Member dominates group discussion

▪ Suggestion:​ Talk with the person in private. Ask for his assistance in allowing others to participate. In
extreme cases, while affirming the value of his participation, ask the person to consciously limit his verbal
responses.

▪ Case 6:​ One group member (the life of the party) is able to find humor in any situation and loudly shares it
with everyone.

▪ Problem:​ ​Inappropriate timing and use of humor

▪ Suggestion:​ Talk with the person in private. He may not realize the problem he’s creating. You’ll probably
need to have more than one private discussion.

▪ Case 7:​ It has been three meetings since a normally active group member has not been in attendance.
▪ Problem:​ ​Poor attendance

▪ Suggestion:​ Contact the person. Determine the cause for being absent. If the reason is legitimate, express
concern, ask if assistance is needed, and state your anticipation of the person’s return. If the reason is
questionable, remind the member of the group covenant, express a desire for active participation, and
highlight the person’s importance to the group.