Six Ways to Improve Your Balance as a Group Leader Leading a successful small group is like walking a tightrope. You traverse a taut, exciting line, balancing the dynamic tensions characteristic of every group. Drawing from the concept of "polarity management," Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson help you understand and deal with six dynamic areas every group leader must manage in order to create genuine, transforming small group community. Your group is in for unprecedented connection and growth when you harness the interplay between * Truth and Life * Care and Discipleship * Friendship and Accountability * Kindness and Confrontation * Task and People * Openness and Intimacy Effective, life-giving small groups learn how to embrace both ends of each continuum. Walking the Small Group Tightrope will strengthen your sense of balance, help you gain confidence as a leader, and show you how to release the untapped creative and relational energy in your group.

Our hearts were made for deep, authentic relationships---for community with others. And like nothing else, small groups provide the kind of life-giving community that builds and empowers the body of Christ and impacts the world. In this book, part of the Groups That Grow series of small group resources, authors Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson provide guidance for the strategic decisions that must be made to establish, develop and grow a thriving small group ministry in the local church. In Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry, they answer questions like: * Which approach or model for small group ministry is best for my church? * Who has responsibility for the ministry and how are they supported? * How do I organize the groups and coach the leaders? * Where do I find leaders and what kind of training do they need? * How do I guide people toward community life? What are the pathways and events that move people to become part of a small group? * What kinds of groups should we offer? * How do you multiply groups and launch new groups? * How do we define success in this ministry? As you work through the questions in each chapter you ll develop a coherent, strategic plan for building and leading the small group ministry at your church. And whether you are establishing a new ministry or transitioning from older models of small group ministry that are no longer effective today, you ll benefit from the time-tested wisdom of the authors. This workbook can be used as a stand-alone resource or it can be used with the five-session training videos taught by the authors available on the Equipping Life-Changing Small Groups DVD (sold separately)."