Surviving Summer in Small Groups

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

As shifting summer schedules create challenges for consistent connection, many of our small groups take a break during the summer. This break from the regular meeting schedule can be helpful, even refreshing to a small group, but it doesn’t have to mean a break from the small group altogether.

At Southwood, our small groups focus on three key relationships, not three key group meetings. Our relationships with each other, with God, and with our neighbors continue through the summer even when our regular meeting schedule gets interrupted. In fact, many groups find the change of pace in the summer to be an open door to new ways to be intentional in these relationships. Here are just a couple ways our small groups deepen their relationships even during a “break”:

1) Join together in an activity already on someone’s schedule. A weekly Tuesday night small group meeting may have fallen off your summer calendar, but for many of us other summer events have been added. Some families start spending time at the pool, others have baseball games three nights a week, and others head downtown for a movie or concert in the park. In some ways the summer schedule can give small groups an increased opportunity to share life together by joining each other in what we’re already doing. Think intentionally about what’s going on in the lives of the other members in your group and show up to share it with them. Hate the pool, the ballpark, or the downtown scene? That’s OK; you love your small group members!

2) Connect with subsets of the small group. A group cookout may be a great idea for the summer. But sometimes seemingly every week of the summer, at least one member of the group is on vacation. Have the cookout anyway. Maybe just invite one family in the group over. Maybe include their kids. The deepening of relationships between individuals within the group will benefit the group dynamic when you’re all able to get back together.

3) Invite someone beyond the group to join you. Summer is a great time to include a neighbor in a small group activity. A backyard cookout, an afternoon at the playground, or the Southwood .5K is often an easier way for someone not involved in your group to develop relationships and connection than a formal group meeting. Take advantage of the summer schedule to think of people in the church or in your neighborhood that you’ve been wanting to include and connect with.

As our small groups enjoy the “break” that summer offers, the goal is that they’ll also benefit from new relational opportunities that are different for each group. Our relationships with each other, with God, and with our neighbors don’t stop when our regular group meetings do. Let’s stay involved in each other’s lives and look for new ways to share community together this summer.

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