4 Week Starter Plan For New Lifegroup

Use this structured 4-meeting format to launch your new groups successfully. Each meeting builds on the previous one to establish community, vision, and mission.

First Meeting - Vision Setting & Expectations

Format:

  • Snacks (allow people to arrive and get comfortable)

  • Introduce one another (spend significant time here)

  • Worship/Prayer (keep it simple and accessible)

  • Discussion/exhortation

  • Leader gives overview of expectations, goals, vision-setting

Sample Leader's Vision-Setting Script: "We are gathered together to bless the Lord, encourage each other, and reach out to the lost. Here's what we can expect as we grow together:"

  • Everyone will participate in the giving aspect of the group as well as receiving

  • We will rotate homes so everyone has opportunity to host evenings

  • We will all rotate to work with children so no one shoulders burden alone - we need a children's coordinator

  • We will all bring snacks on rotating basis - we need a refreshments coordinator

  • We will work through training materials together (guys with guys, gals with gals) provided by the church

  • Come prepared - see if the Lord might have a word for someone through you

  • Pray for group members throughout the week and call to check how they are doing

  • Be prepared to lead out in various parts of meetings

  • Begin developing relationships with people who are lost or wandering, with goal of seeing them saved and established in the Lord

Second Meeting - Community & Purpose

Format:

  • Snacks

  • Welcome

  • Vision for the group

  • Goal for the night: To get to know one another

  • Icebreaker: Who has been the most influential person in your life (other than your spouse, if married)?

  • Worship/Prayer

  • Discussion: Ephesians 4:11-16 (teaching format)

  • Who are "saints"? (We are)

  • If that is true, what are we to be doing? (Building up the Body of Christ)

  • Are you an "every joint"?

  • Our goal in this Lifegroup must be to build up the Body of Christ. How can that best be accomplished? (Praying for one another, calling one another, reaching out to the lost, etc.)

  • Action Point: Contact each other this next week with word of encouragement, prayer, etc.

Third Meeting - Eating Together

Format:

  • Have a covered dish meal with creative theme (everyone brings different ingredient for taco salad, etc.)

  • Enjoy fellowship as you share meal together

  • Have each person share a funny story

  • Always reiterate the purpose of the group

  • Focus on deepening relationships through relaxed atmosphere

Fourth Meeting - Heart Connections

Format:

  • Snacks

  • Welcome

  • Vision:

  • Goal: To get to know one another at deeper level

  • Icebreaker: If you could spend 8 hours with any famous person, who would it be, and why?

  • Worship/Prayer

  • Discussion: Psalm 103:13; Psalm 27:10; Psalm 68:5

  • How would you describe your relationship with your father during your teen years?

  • What effect did your relationship with your father have on your relationship with your Heavenly Father?

  • If your father were standing here right now, what would you like to hear him say?

  • If your father were standing here right now, what would you like to say to him?

  • What do you desire to hear your Heavenly Father say to you?

Key Success Principles:

  • Establish clear expectations early - People need to know what they're committing to

  • Focus on relationships first - Community forms the foundation for everything else

  • Keep vision central - Remind people regularly why the group exists

  • Go deeper gradually - Move from surface to heart connections over the four meetings

  • Set up serving systems - Get people involved in practical ways from the beginning

  • Always end with outward focus - Every meeting should point toward reaching others