1. God’s City. My City
Information
Here is the basic information on the program.
Duration
The program is six weeks.
Components:
GCMC has three components:
1. Six small group lessons- each participating member will receive a book with them.
Love the city.
Pray for the city.
Engage the city.
Serve the city.
Invite the city.
Transform the city.
2. 40 Day Prayer and Sharing- It’s included in the book that has the lessons.
3. Sermon Series- With the same six titles as the small group, to be developed by the pastor.
We would love to have your manuscripts/power points/etc. after you preach it, to share with
pastors and leaders across the NAD.
Implementation
1. The church in their small groups (or whatever format you chose), will study the small group
lessons for six consecutive weeks. They are:
Love the city.
Pray for the city.
Engage the city.
Serve the city.
Invite the city.
Transform the city.
2. Sermon series- with the same titles, but developed by the local church pastor, preached
concurrently with the small group series.
3. 40 Day Prayer and Sharing Booklet. Every member that participates, will get one, where
everyday he will do three things:
A memory verse to ground him/her in God’s word.
Applications to teach him/her God’s word.
A practical assignment to put into action God’s word in his/her life.
Most 40 day prayer journals are strong in the spiritual disciplines, but short on ACTIVATING the
members.
The ideal way for this to happen, is to start 6 weeks before an evangelistic event, so that when
it happens the church is prepared.
2. God’s City. My City
Small Group Training Manual
You have in your hands a training manual, on how to successfully implement the small group
component of God’s City-My City. The booklet is divided into three parts:
1. Before the Lesson
A. Plan
B. Prepare
C. Pray
2. During the Lesson
A. Review the Schedule
B. Review the Lesson
3. After the Lesson
A. Responsibilities
B. Reminders
C. Prayer
D. Reporting
E. Evaluating
If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve the material, please let me know:
rhernandez@southernunion.com
3. Before the Lesson
A. Plan
The old adage of “if you fail to plan you plan to fail” applies to small groups. Excellence doesn’t
happen on its own. While planning doesn’t guarantee success, there are some specific things
you can do to make sure you increase your possibilities of a successful meeting. Here are some
must do’s in respect to planning.
Basic Information: This may seem elementary, but you’d be surprised how
carelessness, delay or erroneous information can lead to an unsuccessful meeting.
Remember to establish, well in advance, and be very clear about, all of the following
information concerning your meeting:
Date & time of meeting
Complete address where meeting will be held
Contact person for more information (more than one is preferred)
Invitation: In order to have effective invitations there are some factors you must
consider. Familiarize yourself with following basic information about GCMC.
1. What is it about?
God’s City. My City is a six week, small group based, practical guide to
effectively reach our communities for Jesus. In addition, there is a
personal prayer and sharing component to be done individually.
2. What is expected of me?
Attendance, involvement and willingness to be used by God. You will be
challenged to go outside your comfort zone. Expect to use your faith in
the next six weeks.
3. What’s in it for me?
Your love for God’s people that are far from Him will grow, your personal
experience with God will deepen, and your outreach skills will be
sharpened, all while impacting your community in a real way.
Team: While everybody that attends the small group is important the leadership team
is key. Here is a short description of a few important positions that are suggested (this
can be adapted to the local church/small group needs and context)
Group Leader: This person holds the primary responsibility to make sure
everything runs smoothly. They usually teach the lesson although it is
encouraged for others who also have that gift to contribute in this area as well.
They work closely in communication with all the other group members.
They should also fill out the contact information and attendance form to help
them keep track of their members. (see appendix 1)
Associate Leader: Shares teaching responsibilities. Should be prepared to cover
any area as needed.
4. Host:This is the person who is responsible for the meeting space.
(home/apartment/community center/etc.) They are in charge of making sure
that it’s adequate, clean, and comfortable. Some people might be wondering
whether food is a required component of a small group meeting. The answer
is…it depends. If it works for your setting do it. If it doesn’t, skip it. Simple as
that.
Hospitality: This person is responsible for creating a warm, welcoming
environment throughout the small group meeting.
Communication: This function could be done by the leader or it can be
delegated to a group member. Their basic responsibility is to get information to
the group members about the upcoming meetings and/or events. They are also
responsible to fill out the meeting report and turn it in.
Child Care: Although childcare can be an incentive to attend it may not always
be possible to provide. Please make sure to announce whether you will be
providing it, so that expectations are clear. If you choose to provide this service,
we suggest that the children remain with the adults all during the program until
the time of the lesson. Childcare must be provided by no less than two people at
any given time. North American Division policy states that anyone working with
children is required to have an approved background check on file.
Covenant: See appendix 2. This document shares some basic guidelines for
group life, clarifies expectations and provides accountability.
B. Prepare
In this section I’d like to highlight some of the steps the small group leader/teacher needs to
take in order to effectively present the weekly lesson. Teaching is a skill. We have all sat under
teachers that inspired and engaged us, as well as teachers that bored us and seemed very
disconnected. The lessons are prepared in a way that makes them easier to present, prepare
and/or adapt, but the content will not make up for lack of focus or preparation.
First thing’s First: Make sure everybody has enough materials and writing utensils, that
there is adequate lighting, and bibles for any that need one. Many of the bible texts are
already in the lesson but some are not. Please use a version people understand.
Suggested Program: We’ll discuss this point in much greater detail in the next section,
but here is a suggested program that you can follow.
1. Connecting with each other (10 min.)
Ice Breaker (see appendix #3)
2. Connecting with God (10 min.)
Praises:
Petitions:
5. 3. Connecting with the Word (40 min.)
See Lesson
4. Fellowship (Open Ended)
Remember to always
a. Look them in the eyes.
b. Learn all you can by listening.
c. Love them unconditionally.
d. Let them know when the next meeting is.
Study of the Lesson: It goes without saying that the teacher should go through the
lesson at least a couple times before they present it. Study the lesson and make it
yours. Insert illustrations, add bible passages, and develop concepts further. You might
not be the greatest teacher in the world but there’s no excuse for lacking passion or
unpreparedness. If you’re excited and prepared you’ll more than likely be effective.
Watch lesson Presentations on YouTube: As an added resource Pr. Roger Hernandez
has recorded and posted himself presenting all six lessons for you to watch
here:http://www.youtube.com/user/pastorrogerhernandez?feature=resultsThe purpose of
these recordings is not for you to parrot what he says but for you to get a sense of the meaning
behind every lesson and highlight the main points. Since there is no discussion in the videos
they will take between no more than 10 minutes versus the 40 minutes suggested for the
regular group discussion.
C. Pray
Nothing happens if you only pray, but nothing happens until you pray. Prayer is not the
preparation for the battle. Prayer is the battle. Every great revival, every great movement of
God in the church from its inception until today, has one great thing in common…prayer. Let’s
take a look at some important characteristics of intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is
basically talking to God about other people before you talk to other people about God.
Characteristics of prayer: In order for intercessory prayer to be effective it must have
three basic characteristics.
1. Specific—the reason specific prayers are valuable is that you can tell after you’ve
prayed whether God answered or not. For example, instead of praying for God
to touch your neighbors heart, why not ask God to move in your neighbor’s life
in such a way that when you invite them to join your small group they will come.
2. Persistent—there are some prayers that will get answered immediately. Others
take time. Yet others take a lifetime. The intensity of our prayers should not
depend on the promptness of God’s response. We pray until God answers.
3. According to God’s Will – The Bible states that it’s God’s desire for everybody to
be saved. Based on clear biblical understanding we can safely and assuredly say
6. that when we intercede for others God listens and acts on our behalf. We might
not always see immediate results, but we have full assurance that God is
working.
The Leaders Prayer List: The table below provides a simple guide to enhance your
intercessory prayer experience. Do this and after a while review it and you’ll be amazed
to see how God worked time after time in the lives of people. (appendix 4)
Name Need Date Declaration Answer
Roger Find a job 7/12/12 By faith I see this 8/6/12 God
person finding provided Roger
suitable with a new job
employment in a close to home.
timely fashion
Different People To Pray For: There are three types of people that you want to pray for
1. People that come so that they can keep growing
2. People that used to come so that they can resume their growth.
3. People that have never come so that they can start growing.*
*The Empty Chair – At every meeting leave one chair empty and pray that God will fill it
the next time you meet with someone that was not there that day.
7. During the Lesson
The day’s finally here. The time has arrived. You have prayed, planned and prepared and the
people are present. During this section you will understand some basic principles on how to
run effective meetings. Your goal should be to have people leave after it’s over saying, “I will
be back”.
A. Review the Schedule
By now you should have reviewed the suggested schedule. Here are some tips to make each
section interesting.
A. Connecting with each other (10 min.)
A simple ice breaker (a get to know you better activity) is provided for you (see
appendix 4). The purpose of this section is to help the members feel relaxed and
comfortable with each other in a non-threatening environment. Feel free to adapt
the suggested ice breaker to fit your group’s needs. But please don’t overlook or
underestimate the importance of this exercise. People come to the group from all
kinds of circumstances and situations. Life can be hectic, even painful sometimes. I
compare the people who show up to the small group meeting to a runner who has
just finished a 100 meter race. That’s how your group members come in the door.
This exercise serves as a tool for them to catch their breath. They need to know,
“it’s OK, we’re among family now”.
B. Connecting with God (10 min.)
This section is comprised of two components. Expressing prayer requests and
thankfulness and taking some time to pray. Remember to write in the page
provided for you the prayer requests that people make so that you can pray for
them specifically at the appropriate moment.
C. Connecting with the Word (40 min.)
This section of the small group meeting is when you study the lesson provided in the
book. Each lesson is divided into four parts. We will go into more detail later on in
this section about each part of the lesson. It’s important to remember that the
person in charge of giving the lesson should see themself as a facilitator more than
an actual teacher. Your job is to get the group talking, reading, asking questions,
sharing, commenting, etc… It is less beneficial if you do all the talking. Don’t be
afraid of the silence. If no one responds immediately after you ask a question,
rephrase it, but don’t be too quick to answer your own questions. One last thing to
remember, it’s better for the group members to go home wishing the lesson was
longer instead of feeling overwhelmed by the length of it. Keep it short.
8. C. Fellowship (Open Ended)
Now you may be wondering why we even put this section in the schedule. Isn’t the
meeting over after the last prayer? The answer is no. One common mistake that
groups make is to forget to connect intentionally with new people after the last
prayer. It’s a golden opportunity to, in a nonthreatening way, acquire some valuable
information that you can use to minister to the members of your group. Important
ministry happens during this time. Don’t pass up the opportunity.
D. Review the Lesson
Each lesson is composed of five sections. They are listed below.
1. C= Capture
2. I= Inspire
3. T= Transform
4. I= Involve
5. E=Engage
Take the time to review the purpose behind each section.
Capture Every lesson starts with a key portion of scripture. The reason for
that is that we want scripture to be foundational in our study. Don’t
overlook this section. You can read it yourself or as a group member to do
so. If you notice most of the key passages that start the lesson have to do
with the city of Jerusalem. Lesson 1 starts with Jesus longing to save
Jerusalem, and the last lesson ends with the victorious saints living in the
new Jerusalem.
Inspire Immediately following scripture there is a key quote from the
writings of Ellen White. Ellen White had a lot to stay about effective ministry
for and to the cities. The quotes that are included are just a sample of the
gems she wrote on the topic. I encourage you to look for the new book
Ministry to the Cities by Ellen G. White, published by the Review & Herald
Publishing Association, Hagerstown, Maryland. Copies can be obtained from
www.adventistbookcenter.com/ or local bookstores. It also has many quotes
that are beneficial. Here again is another opportunity for another of the
group members to read the quotes, thus making the group experience more
participatory.
Transform This section is the one you will focus most of your time on. There
are facts to be shared. Questions to be answered. Bible texts to be looked
up. Opinions to be expressed. We want to make it as practical and relevant
as possible. One of the secrets of a good facilitator is his ability to ask
questions. So feel free to expand or adapt on the provided questions. Here
are four short, key principles on being a good facilitator.
1. When you ask the question and are receiving an answer, make sure
you are looking at the person who is responding and resist the urge to
look down at your notes.
2. Send positive messages with your posture. Don’t…fold your arms,
look away, or slouch in your chair.
9. 3. When somebody responds incorrectly to a question that was asked
be very sensitive and careful on how you respond to that person.
Start your response to their response with the following…”Thank you
for your answer.”
4. As a facilitator it’s your job to keep things moving along and not let
one person monopolize the conversation. If you find yourself in this
situation one way to diffuse the problem is to ask a question directly
to someone else.
Involve This section contains practical applications. It brings the biblical
knowledge to a real life level. There are also questions in this section, that
are integrated with the purpose of fostering more dialogue among the
members of the group.
Engage The primary purpose of these lessons is not just to give you
knowledge about the needs of the city but to move you into action to meet
the needs of the city. Every lesson has an action step. It is not only
important to encourage your group members to fulfill the challenge during
the week but also remember to ask them in the next meeting how it went.
10. After the Lesson
The lesson is over. The house is cleaned up. The people have left. What now? What happens
during the two hours that you are together is as important as the 6 days and 22 hours that you
are not. A good leader looks for opportunities to connect, minister, and reach out to the group
members during the week. A phone call, text message, Facebook post, even a visit are some
ways you can do that. You can choose to do this yourself or delegate it to a responsible
member of your group who’s assigned specifically to fulfill this responsibility. Here are some
basic follow-up tasks.
A. Remind team members of their responsibilities
You can do that during your time together and reinforce it with an email or other means of
communication early in the week.
B. Remind attendees when next meeting is
This is probably self-explanatory but it becomes extremely important to notify your group
members well in advance if the location, time, or day of the meeting changes for any reason.
Since people have different ways of communicating, one size might not fit all (email, texting,
calling) so it’s important for you as the leader to be aware of this.
C. Pray for the group
We’ve already talked about this but just want to remind you that this is where the prayer
request sheet comes in handy. You can share a copy of these prayer requests to the group
members. Remember as prayers go up, the blessing come down.
D. Call those who were absent
One of the most common complaints of people who have left the church is that when they stop
attending nobody noticed. When you reach out to somebody that missed your meeting you are
sending a clear message to them that they are valuable. You might also discover the reason
they missed and along with the group be able to help them.
E. Send report to leader (appendix 5)
Reporting might not be your favorite thing to do but it is a good way to evaluate the strength
and health of the group. Your pastor might or might not ask you for it but even he doesn’t it’s
beneficial to keep accurate records. A sample report form is provided.
F. Evaluate lesson
The people that brought you this resource are very interested in continually improving it.
Please send your feedback, comments, and suggestions to rhernandez@southernunion.com.
Now that you know the basics it’s time to go to work. May God bless your efforts with “God’s
City, My City”.
12. Appendix 2- Covenant
As members of this group, we assign a high value to our time together, and commit to the
following principles, by God’s grace and through His power:
I value time management, so I commit to attend the meetings, start and stop meetings on time
I value privacy and commit to discretion and confidentiality.
I value other’s contributions to our discussions, so I pledge to allow everyone to contribute,
listen and treat each other with respect, love, and kindness. I will keep discussion on topic.
I value the importance of practical Christianity, therefore I commit to follow the 40 Days of
Prayer and Sharing Plan, and actively participate with my group in serving my community.
I value the sacrifice and willingness of the host, so I commit to assist in any way I can to
maintain the meeting space in the best condition possible.
Signed ________________________________
13. Appendix 3
Ice-Breakers
Feel free to come up with your own, here are just samples of ice-breakers.
Fact or fiction?
Ask everyone to write on a piece of paper THREE things about themselves which may
not be known to the others in the group. Two are true and one is not. Taking turns
they read out the three ‘facts’ about themselves and the rest of the group votes
which are true and false. There are always surprises. This simple activity is always
fun, and helps the group and leaders get to know more about each other.
Interview
Divide the group into pairs. Ask them to take three minutes to interview each
other. Each interviewer has to find 3 interesting facts about their partner. Bring
everyone back to together and ask everyone to present the 3 facts about their
partner to the rest of the group. Watch the time on this one, keep it moving along.
Desert Island
Announce, 'You've been exiled to a deserted island for a year. In addition to the
essentials, you may take one piece of music, one book (other than the Bible) and
one luxury item you can carry with you i.e. not a boat to leave the island! What
would you take and why?' Allow a few minutes for people to draw up their list of three items,
beforesharing their choices with the rest of the group. As with most icebreakers
andrelationship building activities, it's good for the group leaders to join in too!
If
Ask the group to sit in a circle. Write 20 'IF' questions on cards and place them
(question down) in the middle of the circle. The first person takes a card, reads it out
and gives their answer, comment or explanation. The card is returned to the bottom
of the pile before the next person takes their card.This is a simple icebreaker to get young
people talking and listening to others in thegroup. Keep it moving and don't play for too long.
Write your own additional 'IF'questions to add to the list.
1. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
2. If I gave you $10,000, what would you spend it on?
3. If you could talk to anyone in the world, who would it be?
4. If you could wish one thing to come true this year, what would it be?
5. If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?
6. If you could change anything about yourself, what would you change?
7. If you could be someone else, who would you be?
8. If you could have any question answered, what would it be?
Would you rather..?
Questions may range from silly trivia to more serious content. On the way you might
14. find out some interesting things about your group.
Would you rather..?
Visit the doctor or the dentist?
Eat broccoli or carrots?
Watch TV or listen to music?
Own a lizard or a snake?
Have a beach holiday or a mountain holiday?
Be an apple or a banana?
Be invisible or be able to read minds?
Be hairy all over or completely bald?
Be the most popular or the smartest person you know?
Make headlines for saving somebody's life or winning a Nobel Prize?
Go without television or fast food for the rest of your life?
Be handsome/beautiful and dumb or be ugly and really smart?
Always be cold or always be hot?
Not hear or not see?
Eliminate hunger and disease or be able to bring lasting world peace?
See the future or change the past?
Be three inches taller or three inches shorter?
Wrestle a lion or fight a shark?
Object stories
Collect together a number of objects and place in a canvas bag. The objects can
include everyday items i.e. a pencil, key-ring, mobile phone, but also include some
more unusual ones i.e. a fossil, holiday photograph, wig! Pass the bag around the group and
invite each person to dip their hand intothe bag (without looking) and pull out one of the
objects.The leader begins a story which includes his object. After 20 seconds, the next
person takes up the story and adds another 20 seconds, incorporating the object
they are holding. And so on, until everyone has made a contribution to your epic
literary tale.
www.insight.typepad.co.uk
40 Icebreakers for Small Groups 6
15. Appendix 4
Name Need Date Declaration Answer
Roger Find a job 7/12/12 By faith I see this 8/6/12 God
person finding provided Roger
suitable with a new job
employment in a close to home.
timely fashion
