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• This doesn't negate everything you've learned…. At SmallGroups.com, we spend a lot of time helping group leaders learn various skills and practices to be used during group meetings. These include writing effective discussion questions, understanding learning styles, interpreting body language, incorporating worship, and so on. And all of those are still important.
• Think of it like falling asleep. You can't force another person to fall asleep, but you can create an environment around that person that is more conducive to sleep. In the same way, you can't force your group members to encounter and interact with the Holy Spirit, but you can create an environment in your small group that is receptive to the Spirit's movement. And all of the skills mentioned above are helpful for creating such an environment.
• …But all of the skills you've learned should be subordinate to prayer. The founders of www.smallgroupsbigimpact.com studied over 1,000 churches to answer this question: what are the common traits of healthy small groups? They found that, overwhelmingly, healthy small groups have group leaders that pray for their group members every day. And that makes sense when you understand that the Holy Spirit is responsible for spiritual growth and health. If you want an efficient group meeting that disseminates a lot of information, than spend most of your time learning facilitation skills and studying commentaries. If you want your small group to be a place where spiritual growth happens, than spend most of your time in prayer.

—Sam O'Neal is the managing editor of www.SmallGroups.com ; copyright 2010 by the author and Christianity Today International.

Reprinted from Christianity Today, © 2008 Christianity Today. For more articles like this, visit www.christianitytoday.com.