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Is dividing students by age the best way?
I'm trying something different with our small groups... rather than dividing the group by age or grade (jr. high and sr. high) i'm allowing the youth to choose which small group they participate in, either the "wide" option or the "deep" option. Is this a wise idea? Has anyone else divided their group like this before? Pros/cons?
I'm open to your feedback and thanks in advance...
- 5 Answers
- In Discipleship
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- Ryno
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- 1 year ago
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I will admit I would not do this. I will repeat I would not do this. First I agree that pride could develop between the deep group and the wide group. And what about the building others up? If you have all the deep with the deep who is challenging the wide? If you have the wide with the wide who is challenging the deep to move? I think the best bet for a small group ministry is a cross section of the group. If you want to have a bible study with leadership types have that as an optional thing. |
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one fear I have with the deep and wide groups would be the arrogance factor, or the opposite. Let's say I am a freshman in HS and I have a good friend. I want to do the deep group but he feels that he needs the wide group. Do i now feel a sense of "hey, I am so much more mature than you are." Or does my friend feel belittled in his faith because he can't go as deep? Just some thoughts that you might want to think through in how you present the groups. |
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I like the idea of giving them options, but I think you can do both. If you have enough help you can split up by age and then let them decide deep or wide. If you don't have the help I think age would be better. That is unless you have a tight knit group. It ultimately is what you feel is best for your group's dynamics and numbers, but personally I side with the guys below |
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I think age is the best and here is the reason. Although I like the concept of giving different options the maturity level between a 7th and 12th grader is vast. So as I think there can be some mentoring from the older to the younger that will be hard at first. I would rather see some JR or SR being used as assistant leaders in the younger groups rather than mix them. |
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I understand the general ideas of wide vs. deep, but I'm not quite sure how that pertains to your small groups. I am going to assume the "wide" small group is just not as intense as the "deep" group. Right? I like the idea of having options. Our group is not big enough to have different offerings. We currently split boys/girls with hopes of eventually offering jh boys/jh girls/hs boys/hs girls. My only concern is "deep" to a jr. or sr. is completely different from "deep" to a 7th grader, although the 7th grader could definitely learn and be mentored by the older kids. I also don't know your mtg format, but not having them age graded makes it hard to keep track of attendance unless your groups all meet at the church. |
