Do’s and Don’ts of Developing In-House Small Group Curriculum (Part 2)

See “Do’s and Don’ts of Developing In-House Small Group Curriculum” for part 1.

DO:

1. Extra Materials – Provide extra materials to the leaders when tackling the harder topics.(see DON’T: #1 below). Supporting scriptures, commentary input, etc. Provide as much material as a leader might need in the discussion around the topic.
2. Pick and Choose – Create the guide so that the leaders can pick and choose from the discussion materials and still arrive at the same place.
3. Main Point – emphasize a central theme that the entire discussion should focus around.
4. Lots ‘o’ Questions – Provide a larger variety of questions. The more questions the more a leader has to pick from.

DON’T:

1. Hard Topics – don’t shy away from hard topics (see DO: #1 above)
2. One Pagers – don’t feel like you have to limit the leader’s discussion guide to 1 page.

What about you?  What are some DO’s and DON’Ts that you have encountered in your in-house curriculum?

Do’s and Don’ts of Developing In-House Small Group Curriculum

DO:

1. WORD based – all studies should start with and refer back to the WORD. The WORD should be read in each group.
2. Teaching – small groups are designed to provide an environment for discipleship to take place. Discipleship includes an element of teaching. Teaching elements can include additional resources like: quotes, supporting scriptures, definitions, original text, commentary information, questions with yes/no answers, etc. (see DON’T #2 below)
3. Discussion – these are frequently questions like “what do you think?” (see DON’T #3 below)
4. Application – have a practical element to put the topic  into practice.
5. Accountability – include an element to follow-up on the application from the previous week. This draws everything back to a relationship with a discipleship focus.
6. Independence – when doing a video with a discussion guide, create them as independent.  This allows for some people to still use the discussion guide without feeling left out from not watching the video. Leaders can use the video and the guide, just the guide or just the video and never skip a beat.
7. Design – design the curriculum with re-usability in mind. This will allow you to build a library of resources for future small group leaders.
8. Topic – use this medium to share important lessons or topics for the body. (see DON’T #5)

DON’T:

1. Avoid quoting a teacher – when quoting a teacher it becomes about the teacher and not about the WORD.
2. Don’t minimize discussion in favor of teaching – teaching is important, but small groups should be balanced. That balance should include equal amounts of teaching, discussion, fellowship, and prayer.
3. Avoid yes/no questions for discussion questions – Yes/no questions don’t stimulate discussion. It is appropriate to ask yes/no questions as an element of teaching where one specific answer is right.
4. Don’t regurgitate the video in the discussion guide (or vice versa) – this helps promote independence and re-usability. Each should support the other, but be independently useful (see DO #6 & #7)
5. Don’t flippantly select curriculum topics – Consider what topics will be most helpful and beneficial to the body. Use this medium to communicate important topics or lessons for the body (see DO #8)

This is by no means a definitive list.  What have you learned about developing in-house small group curriculum?