Habit #3: Caring for your Life Group

9 Habits for Effective Life Group Leadership
Habit #3: Caring for your Life Group

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
- Jesus, John 13:34-35 

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"
- Martin Luther King Jr.

The third habit of Effective Life Group Leaders is how they care for their group. 

Caring for people can be messy.  Ask any paramedic, nurse, or doctor and they will tell you, "Caring requires a passion for seeing people well."  Sick people range from bloody to poopy to sniffly.  You never know what you are going to get.  They have problems: emotional, physical, financial, etc.  How can you as a Life Group Leader care for people well? 
 

• Listen - Most people need someone to hear them.  They don't need someone to solve their problems.  People typically need someone to help them understand how God solves problems.  As Life Group leaders, we are given the opportunity to meet people where they are, listen and point them to God's word, and see how God helped others in similar circumstances.  

• Give Grace -  We need to encourage people.  We see Jesus dispensing grace freely.  He would meet people where they are and then encourage them to take the next step.  In John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus as a teacher from the Pharisees in the middle of the night. Jesus meets with him and helps him to see his next steps. 

• Share Truth - Don't let people off the hook.  We cannot solve their problems.  Returning to the Nicodemus and Jesus story, Jesus didn't make it easy for Nicodemus.  He made statements Nicodemus didn't completely understand.   Jesus asked questions to reveal the truth of Nicodemus' heart.  Nicodemus needed truth as much as he needed grace.  Don't give one without the other.  

• Contact People - As a kid, I remember hoping something in the mail would have my name on the mailing label.  I think people today are no different.  People want to be seen and known. Reaching out to them via text, email or even snail mail
  opens up the opportunity for connection and community. The question is not if I should contact them but how I should contact them.  

• Care Steps for Groups - If someone is in the midst of a situation, they need the support of their group.  They may need a meal train.  They may be in the hospital and need a visit from their Life Group Leader.  They may be facing a birthday of significance and need some people to surround them.  Their family may be far away and they need us to go to their child's football game.  A Life Group cannot be all things to all people, but we can make people feel special and show the love of Jesus to them.

• Refer them to Pastoral Care - We have an amazing pastoral care team here at Life Point.  Please know we do not expect your group to cover every need of someone attending your group.  If you don't know what our Pastoral Care team does, please click here to find out.   From evaluating financial needs to counseling needs, our team can help the members of your Life Group where they are.  

John Maxwell made popular a quote by President Theodore Roosevelt.  People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.  People assimilate into groups more quickly when we care for them properly.  It reminds them: Everybody's Welcome. Nobody's Perfect.  Anything Is Possible.