Beyond Just Streaming

View Original

08: Online Groups Are The Spark

See this content in the original post

Online Small Groups are a tremendous way to get people to engage in your digital community. In this video, I explain what small group ministry is about, how large online groups can be used to start small online groups, share four principles to online groups, and what a typical online group meeting looks like from start to finish. Watch this video to learn more!

The Early Church Model was Small Groups in Acts/2:42-47 & 5:42 & Paul & other Apostles confirms it in follow up letters: 

  • Apostle teaching” - Discipleship 

    • Ephesians

  • House” - Fellowship 

    • 1 & 2 Corinthians

  • All things in common” - Ministry

    • James

  • Temple courts” - Worship

    • Philippians

  • Add to their numbers” - Evangelism

    • Romans

Large Online Groups Are Easy Way to Launch Online Groups:

  • Invite a large amount of people to be part of the group, which you lead

  • Create private Facebook Group (home base) for those part of the online group

  • Meet weekly at same time on Zoom (meeting space)

  • Use Zoom's Breakout Room feature to get into smaller groups of 3-5 people (How to US Zoom Breakout Rooms)

  • Engage throughout the week in Facebook Group

  • After the completion of the study encourage people to continue on in their small groups

  • Capture one story from your large online group to launch more groups

The 4 P’s of Online Groups

  • Programing: on-demand individually or real-time as group (Synchronous or Asynchronous)

  • Platform: people are opinionated with technology

  • Process: text > audio > video > face to face

  • Places: two ways an online small group interacts:

    1. Home Base: Facebook group, text thread or WhatsApp

    2. Meeting Space: Zoom.us, Skype, or Google Hangout

What A Typical Online Group Looks Like:

  • Welcome everyone (your preparation ahead of time will set the tone)

  • Warm up the group (icebreaker tips)

  • Optional: Watch study or read study

  • Discuss the questions (get everyone to unmute and share)

  • Prayer requests

  • End with prayer

Two Video Course on Online Groups:

1. How Online Small Groups work [FREE]

2. How To Start And Sustain Healthy Online Small Groups [PAID]