SSJ Director Training Preface Part 3: Group Roles

Hosting an In-home Bible Study Part 3

One of the mistakes made when starting an in-home Bible study is trying to do everything yourself. You assume you must do everything because the study is being held at YOUR house. After all, these women are my guests… aren’t they? Well, yes they are and while you want every gathering to be a celebration, you aren’t hosting a party or shower. This is a group, almost a club & everyone should share in the work.

There are certain roles that individuals hold for a year, like an officer in a club. Then there are other roles that rotate from member to member, month to month. I will discuss the rotating roles in another post. Right now, I want to share the group roles with you. These are just suggestions to help you get started. You should adapt them as needed.

A brief not here: I believe these groups should have at least 6 members (because things come up preventing members from coming to each gathering) & no more than 12. Once a group has over 12 members, people begin to be overlooked AND small groups begin to form within the group. You want your Bible study to be one group of women. Should your group grow to more than 12 members, I suggest encouraging a member to begin a new group. Seed the new group with 2-3 members from your group. While you don’t want your group changing members every other month, I believe groups should be adding new members throughout the course of a year to keep things fresh & to allow you & your members to share your friendship & faith with new women. In other words, try to prevent your group from becoming a private social club. It happens without you realizing it & is hard to turn around once it occurs.

Group Leader: Oversees the chapter, coordinates club activities & meetings, insures tasks are being completed, point of contact for members. You might be the one that created the group, however, you don’t have to serve as group leader. If your gifts are not in that area, let someone else do this job.

Treasurer: Collects funds for the chapter and oversees purchases & payments.

Event Coordinator: Coordinates all events outside the weekly meetings, like family gatherings, fund raisers, etc.

Materials: In charge of any materials used by the group such as craft materials.

Philanthropy: Point of Contact for any work the chapter does with a non-profit organization. Helps coordinate fund raisers for your chosen philanthropy.

Social Media Coordinator: Takes photos during all group events, collect additional photos from group members, share photos with members, oversee creation of group Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram account & any other social media that fits your group.