How I Lead a Group

As an example of how I do leadership development, below is a Session retreat that I led.  It was an overnight with the purpose of coming up with a mission statement, and I heavily used the concepts of appreciative inquiry.

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Session Retreat

January 2014

Opening

Evening worship starting with the service of light.

Part One: Opening the Theme

Group Discussion

What is church? 

What is to happen inside it’s walls and outside?

How are people to relate to others?

Where does the source of the energy and activity come from?

Part Two: Interview Practice

First pairing interviews

Interview Sheet 1

Interview One

Instructions

You are about to interview each other in pairs.

One person will be the interviewer and one perseon the interviewee.  You should change after around 5 minutes.

The person who is interviewing should:

-read the questions and ask them in your own voice and own way – it might be helpful to think of how you would answer the quesetion before asking the other person to be more ready to listen

-listen carefully without interrupting

-encourage the other person to talk and tell more of their story

-make notes

You are to act as a mirror to the other person – you are there, but only to reflect what the other person is saying witout interjecting your own self into the interview.

The person being interviewed should:

            -answer the question as fully as they can.

Name of interviewer

Name of interviewee

Reflect on your entire experience with this church. 

When was a time when you felt most alive, most involved, spiritually touched, or most excited about your involvement? 

Describe the event in detail. 

What made it an exciting experience? 

Who was involved? 

How did you feel?

What did you think?

What did you do as a result of this experience?

Part Three: Prepatory Reflection

Group Discussion

A debriefing of the interviewing exercise.  Members of the group can be asked to feed back on and discuss:

-general feelings about carrying the exercise

-retelling of stories from the interviews

-identification of themes from stories (e.g. by writing them on a flip chart)

-more general discussion about the themes that have arisen

Part Four: Asking Questions

Interview Two

Great Commandment Questions

Instructions: In pairs take time to interview one another using the following questions.

Be a generous listener.  Take turns to actually conduct an interview rather than just discussing the question.  Feel free to ask additional follow-up questions to deepen the story.  Use this sheet to record the results of your interview.  When your interviews are completed you will present them to the wider group.

1.      Best Experience of Loving God: Reflect on your entire experience of this church.  Recall a time when you felt most aware and spiritually touched by God’s presence and love here.  Tell me about this memorable experience that you have had being loved by God here.  Describe that event in detail.  What made it an exciting experience?  Who was involved?  How did you feel?  What did you do as a result of the experience?

2.      Best Experience of Loving Your Neighbor: Reflect on your entier experience of this church.  Recall a time when you or people from here reached out and cared for people in the wider community that left you feeling proud about being a member of this church.  Tell me about this memorable experience that you have had of the people of your church’s loving their neighbor.  Describe the event in detail and how it left you feeling proud and inspired.

3.      Best Experience of Loving Yourselves: What do you love to do?  Tell me a story about a memorable time when you were able to engage in something that you really love to do and which left you with a feeling of deep satisfaction.  What made it memorable?  What was the outcome of the experience?  What did you do as a resutlt of the experience?

4.      Values: What is it about this church that you value?  What is the single most important thing that this church has contributed to your life?

5.      Core Values: What do you think is the core value of this church?  What values give life to the congregation?  What is it that, if it did not exist, would make this church totally different than it currently is?

6.      Three Wishes: If God gave you three wishes for this church, what would they be?

Part Five: Finding Themes

Each interviewer/interviewee group is asked to report back on their interview to the main group with the main points being recorded which can be grouped into themes.

Part Six: Prioritizing

Members of the group in conversation with the facilitator should write the main themes of the conversations along with each of the statements in that theme on sheets of flip-chart paper.  Every member is given three dot stickers.  Each person in the group should look at all the points that have been raised and put a sticker next to the three that are cosnidered most important.

This exercise will give an immediate picture of the points and ideas that are most important to the group. 

Ask the following:

What do you think is the core essence of this church that is revealed when the people of Rock Prairie are at its best, Loving God, their neighbors and themselves?

What is a metaphor or image of this church at its best?

What is an exemplar story of this church at its best?

What are some dreams you have for the future of this church?

Part Seven: Collecting a Mission Statement

In light of what has been discussed some core elements of church life here are put into a list, and the whole group works together to formulate the most important elements into a mission statement. 

Note: an ideal for a mission statement is to be congregation specific, one uncomplicated sentence and direct enough to be able to be repeated at gunpoint.    

Session Retreat Schedule

Hebrews 10:23-25

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for the one who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Friday

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Arrive and Settle into rooms

6:00 – 7:25 First Session

7:30 – Dinner

Free time

First Session:

Gathering and Information Sharing

Part One: Opening the Theme

Part Two: Interview Practice

Part Three: Preparatory Reflection

Saturday

8:00 – 8:20 Morning Prayer

8:30 – 9:15 Breakfast

9:15 – 10:15 Second Session

10:15 – 10:30 Break

10:30 – 11:15 Third Session

11:15 – 11:30 Break

11:30 – 12:30 Fourth Session

12:30 Depart

Second Session:

Part Four: Asking Questions

Third Session:

Part Five: Finding Themes

Part Six: Prioritizing

Fourth Session:

Part Seven: Collecting a Mission Statement

Closing Prayer Service