It’s Thursday–and that means it’s ‘Young Life College’ day on YoungLifeLeaders.org. Today we’re sharing different thoughts about club, large group and small groups.
Some YLC ministries structure it this way:
- Club: outreach meeting for everyone
- Large Group: for folks who want to go deeper (a combined gathering of all the small groups)
- Small Groups: discipleship groups divided by year and gender.
Not all YLC ministries have an established ‘Large Group’ time so this might be new to some of you. On some campuses, large group begins with a leader up front speaking to a group of 10-40. Then the group divides into smaller groups to discuss the large group message or another topic from a curriculum the small group leader has chosen. Large groups could essentially be a launching pad for your small groups. They can happen on the same night. Think of it as a way to get critical mass into a room so folks can then experience depth within their small groups that launch out of the large group time. Some ministries just do large group gatherings once each month.
How To Promote Large Groups
- Announce it at club.
- Free Food: Some colleges host large group each week in a home with dinner included.
- Personal Invitations: Students and leaders both personally invite friends to join their group.
- Social Media, Email, Text
- Excellence: Make it worth coming back to.
Other Large Group Variations
- “Large group for us is a once-a-month gathering for worship and breaking into groups with questions either related to club talk the week before or a short message with questions following.
- “We meet weekly and have a time of hang out with everyone and then go directly to small groups.”
If you have other ideas for how you structure things in your college ministry, email us here.
