You don't need to know it all

I just finished reading a book about small groups, leading into a meeting of our small group leaders at church later this week.

At one point, the author wrote about the process they used for training their small group leaders. It had two steps... Stuff you must know and Stuff you can learn to know.

At times churches fall into the trap of over training.

Prior to leading a group the leader must know it all and be prepared for almost any situation.

In reality, this doesn't need to be the case and can scare off some potentially great leaders.

Sure, there are things you need to know. You need to love Jesus, have a desire to serve and have a passion for those you minister to. You need to be aware of the needs of your group and have some basic skills to run the event effectively.

But you don't need to know it all (Unless you're thrown in the deep end without a safety net!).

You can learn some things on the go.

You can ease into the up-front elements of the ministry.

You can watch others perform the tasks and be trained over a number of weeks or paired off with an experienced co-leader.

Over time, you can pick up the additional skills that you lacked at the start.

As a situation arises you can ask for help.

Eventually, new things will be developed that you will need to learn anyway.

At the start... You don't need to know it all...