Small Groups Resources

Joshua David Starbuch, “Small Groups in Wilderness Experience/Outdoor Education,”  CYS, August, 2007.

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OVERVIEW

What does one have to know about small group dynamics in wilderness camping? Group dynamics can be a mysterious thing.  What causes some groups to “click,” while others just seem to fall apart?  Certain unique factors come into play.  There are patterns by which groups of people come together.  These patterns provide invaluable aid to a someone having trouble understanding their role as a leader.  This involves an understanding of the predictable ways groups of people come together when they are part of a common experience. 

Bruce Tuckman suggests five different stages most groups go through in one form or another: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Transforming.  Many groups will move sequentially from one stage to the next.  Others seem to skip certain stages, or revert back to earlier stages before moving forward.  Other groups may never move past the first or second stage.  Therefore, as leaders, our understanding of group developmental patterns will serve as a vital aid in our quest to facilitate learning and growth.  Leadership styles vary, and we will certainly deal with situations differently.  But we should all be aware of the basic needs of our groups as they progress from one stage to another.  As leaders, we should

(1)   be able to recognize which stage our group is in, and

(2)   understand what they need from us as their leaders.

The following is a series of brief descriptions to help us recognize the various stages of group development:

Forming

Forming is the time when everyone is new.  People don’t really know each other, and everyone is rapidly learning what the group will be about. Many people are trying to figure out whether the group will be a safe place for them to be themselves.  Subconsciously they are asking whether they will they be included, liked, and accepted.  While everyone is outwardly friendly and open to one another, their actions are often superficial at first.  For the most part, people are just trying to figure out what the group will be like.

Storming

This period begins when the group is comfortable enough with each other to experience conflict.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that people are getting into fights, but can be as simple as a small disagreement about an inconsequential decision.  Conflicts can also become quite dramatic, and these often end up being defining moments of the group.  Lots of times, members are just searching for their place; trying to figure out where they fit into the team.  It’s important to understand that conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  If the conflict isn’t dealt with properly, even a small problem can divide the group.  But if the root issues are addressed and talked through, then the group will come together even more through the conflict.

Norming

Norming is the result of a group that has worked through conflict together well.  Participants are valued for who they are, and people become a lot more comfortable being together.  It’s common for inside jokes and “group slang” to come out at this point, which can be a lot of fun.  There is a sense of pride in group accomplishments and comfort within the confines of the group. 

Performing

Typically, a group that has entered the norming stage will lead right into the performing stage.  Leading becomes easier because the group is functioning on a healthier level.  The group is comfortable with each other and able to work together well.  Members understand their roles and become much less concerned about personal image.  In general, it’s just fun to be together as a group.

Transforming

Transforming is all about taking the things learned within the confines of an isolated community and applying those concepts to the “real world.”  It is good for looking back at where the group has been together, what it is like right now, and where people want to go.  The transformation of learning is difficult for some and much easier for others.  If the group is dispersing, such as would be the case at the end of a wilderness trip, various responses emerge.  Some withdraw before the group actually ends.  Others attempt to prolong the experience by planning opportunities for the group to get together again.  Whether we like it or not, many groups do come to an end.  The manner in which we handle those times can be transformational for members within the group.

What is the role of an instructor during the various stages of Group Development?

¨        Forming

§         Set the tone by being an example in regards to positive attitude, respect, encouragement, and honesty.

§         Create and communicate goals clearly.

§         Come to an agreement about how the group will treat each other (possibly by creating a group covenant or Full-Value-Contract)

§          Empower members to understand that their input makes a difference.

¨        Storming

§         Expect conflict, and be ready to deal with it, not just blow it off.

§         Allow conflict to occur and encourage confrontation of deeper issues.

§         Try not to take sides in most matters.  Instead, help the members of the group to talk through issues themselves. 

§         Listen carefully, acknowledge feelings, and be empathetic.

§         Be source of stability and neutrality.

§         Be careful not to become defensive if group members lash out at you.

¨        Norming

§         Become more of a member than a leader by continuing to empower members of group.

§         Facilitate activities that will highlight individual participation in achievement of the whole.

¨        Performing

§         Let go of control over the group.  Give members more responsibility.

§         Might be a good time to revisit goals.

§         Challenge students through meaningful conversations.

¨        Transforming

§         Assure the group that what happened in their experience is important.

§         Reflect on the learning experience which has past, and point members toward continued personal growth in the future.  

§         Celebrate successes and acknowledge failures.

§         Foster the transference of concepts learned during their time together to application in the “real world.”

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. When were you most satisfied with your leadership of a small group? When most frustrated?

2.  What about this article offers you some help? What confuses you or what questions do you have?

3.  Think of a situation when you experienced storming either as a participant or as a leader.  How was it dealt with and what were the results? 

4.  Can you think of a time when your group made the transition from storming to norming?  Were there recognizable factors that seemed to trigger the shift?

5.  What are some creative ways in which we, as leaders, can continue to stimulate growth when the group is doing really well together?

6.  How natural is it to gradually turn leadership over to the group as the prove themselves worthy?  How important is it to empower members of the group with responsibility and ownership?

IMPLICATIONS

1.  Too many people are thrust into a position of leadership having to learn by trial and error—often from their mistakes, when some basic training would help the process.

2.  There are patterns which aid us in understanding group behavior, and we must work to use that knowledge to become better leaders.

3.  As leaders, we must be observant of the patterns of our groups.

4.  As groups progress, they should be rewarded with more responsibility and freedom

Joshua David Starbuch  c. CYS

Borgman, D. (2004). "Four basic questions for youth ministry." S. Hamilton, MA: Center for Youth Studies

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The Four Basic Questions are part of our philosophy of youth ministry. Because the primary task of adolescence is working through the identity crisis, we need to help them in that process. Because society has rushed youth to pseudo-maturity resulting in extreme compartmentalization or what Elkind calls the “patchwork self,” a major goal of youth work must be the integration of beliefs, values, goals decisions, and life-style. And because religious truth can easily slip into a religious compartment of a teenager, separated from other parts of their lives, we need always to keep their whole life process in mind.

To answer those who say the primary goal of youth ministry is asking young people about their faith commitment, we respond: Jesus Christ did not go around asking people if they were ready to accept the Gospel or to be born again. He asked them where they were hurting and if they wanted to be made whole. This was his Gospel of the Kingdom, his Kingdom work. (See Luke 4: 18ff and Christ’s answer to John the Baptist, Luke 7: 18-23) In that process Christ made sure people heard about the Father and their need for repentance and faith. The Four Basic Questions are an attitude, a style of conversation and guide in our relationships with young people.

Those new to youth work want help in meeting and relating to young people. What should drive our conversations with youth? Where should we be headed in these conversations? How should we get started? How should we train our volunteers? The principle in answering these questions is growth. Youth are growing through a dynamic transition. Experienced youth workers also look for creative curricular ideas, ways to stimulate the growth of young people on retreats or in regular group meetings.

These four basic questions evolved from my work with gangs and kids on the streets of the Lower East of Manhattan, NYC. Heroin had decimated the gangs in the early 1960s. I would often hear the first three questions from young addicts with whom contact was made day after day. The fourth question is the key question of youth work.

These questions are, of course, not meant to be asked in any formal interview nor intended to be used verbatim. They have been translated in the slang of Spanish, Swahili and other languages.

• What’s happening? (I’m really interested in your world and in your life.)

• Where are you coming from? (I’m willing to tell you my story and care about yours.)

• Where are you going/headed? (We all need hopes and dreams!)

• How can we help you help yourself to get there? (Life/youth work is all about goals!)

These questions, or their paraphrases, may be answered on many different levels. You may get the same nod or grunt that answers the question, “How ya doin’?” or “How is it going?” You may get a more polite but still superficial, “O.K.” or “Pretty good.” Pressing the questions a bit, you may get whatever a young person decides is safe to say. The progression of the questions depends on the depth and sincerity of response. With adequate trust and at the right time, you may find a young person who really wants to share his or her life with you.

The first question expresses the intention of an adult to give up what is perceived as adult detachment and judgmentalism to enter the world of youth and a particular individual’s life situation. It says, over and over, “I really care about you and what’s going on in with you. Conversations with many young people may never go beyond this point. And obviously, conversations begin and return to this first questions many times.

The second question, taken seriously, moves to a deeper level—to sharing and storytelling. Individuals and groups bond as they share their own histories. Malcolm X once said, “A man without a knowledge of his past is like a tree without roots!” People need a sense of their personal past for stability, for working out one’s their identity, and for guidance for the future.

Today’s society with its media blitz robs young people of their past and strips them of their dreams. In place of real dreams it offers them illusions. Consider how advertisements and the exploitation of celebrities makes youth feel inferior… with a boring past and a crazy future. We are called to be dynamic antidotes in a toxic society. We can allow young people to sense their real worth, rediscover their personal history and look forward to desirable and realistic dreams.

The third question, then, builds on the second; only seeing our positive past can we have confidence in building a bright future. Few teenagers have healthy, realistic dreams these days, and yet adolescents are properly future-oriented persons. The third question keeps them focused.

The fourth question, we have said, is “the stuff of youth ministry.” It encourages translating a future dream into long-term, then, mid-range, and finally short-range or immediate goals. Never ask someone, especially an addicted or dysfunctional person, “How can I help you?” That can be disastrous for both persons. It encourages dependency and can lead to the youth worker’s victimization.

Remember, it is the spirit of these questions and not the words that are important. As a serious workshop, they are much more readily taken by young adults than by teenagers, But the principles and intentions of these questions can guide our conversations and curricula with teenagers.

Finally, you will find these questions helpful in your own self-knowledge. Note how they are used for the exegesis (or study) of self in the last section of Chapter Three (in When Kumbaya Is Not Enough). Consider also how these questions can help you in recruiting, training and supervising volunteer leaders.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. With what friends would you most enjoy sitting around a fire sharing your lives in terms of these questions What might emerge from such a discussion?

2. If you were asked to drive a teenager you did not know some 45 miles, what kind of conversation might you have around these four questions?

3. If you could not get past the first question with this teenager, might it still be a good conversation?

4. Do you see how you might use these questions on a weekend retreat? What might you celebrate at the conclusion of this weekend?

5. What questions or issues do you have with this article or these four basic questions?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Youth ministry must be greatly concerned with growth, and these questions are growth-evoking.

2. Adolescents today have been described by experts as patchwork selves or particle persons who are highly compartmentalized. These questions are meant to foster integration. Asking them may for many teenagers be only preparing them for future growth and integration. Still, this is our job.

3.Teenagers only learn and grow as they discover things for themselves with their friends. These questions need to find their way into such settings.

Dean Borgman cCYS

Poole, Garry (2003) Seeker Small Groups: Engaging Spiritual Seekers in Life-Changing Discussions,  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 319p.

Garry Poole offers a wonderful testimony about his discovery and work in discussion groups with those without specific faith commitment. His book, the Seeker Small Group, through testimonials, practical advice and outlined guides, provides various principles that anyone operating in ministry should observe. In this four-part book, he outlines how to launch a small seeker group, how to attract seekers to small groups, how to lead seeker small group discussions, and how to reach seekers through small groups. As a tool of evangelism, the small seeker group allows the participant to question, try, and deal with their spirituality in a non-threatening manner. The facilitator acts as a guide to provide assistance with provocative, open questions, allowing a participant to consider introspectively their need or desire for God.

As a youth worker particularly, I found the principles discussed here to be helpful in developing programs, discussions and other evangelistic outreach. The three principles I found most helpful are: providing conducive setting for youth meetings, developing the leader as facilitator, and employing the Spiritual Discovery Model into the practice of our youth department. I will describe how I intend to use each principle within my youth department.

 
Principle One: The Setting and Structure of the Meetings

For youth the first impression is key, especially these days. Constantly exposed to glamour, technology and glitz in the media and beyond, it is important for young people to first try out the atmosphere of a youth group. They need to find that it attracts, provides security, and is relevant to their daily existence. Poole offers advice about this for us.  As adults, we often neglect or think atmosphere is secondary to sharing the Word. For me, Poole confirms the essential things that young people need in terms of the setting of our meetings: ground rules, accessibility (location, being able to share during discussions, being able to be open with a leader), bonding through activity (icebreakers appropriate to a particular crowd) and relevance to their identites as youth (music, interaction, humor, etc.)  As I continue to develop the programming for our youth fellowships and discussions, I make sure to plan the setting and atmosphere as well as the topic. I want our program to be accessible for new comers with an atmosphere where the youth are not afraid to ask questions and be open with the leader. The first priority for my youth training in the next year will be to train our current leadership to foster those qualities so that our youth will feel safe and free to speak. We want new youth to find it easy to join in. And of course out time should be well planned and organized in a way that seems natural and informal to youth.

 
Principle Two: The Leader as Facilitator

Part of making our youth program more accessible, safe and free lies in the style and skills of leaders as they bring the group together and guide discussions. They should think of themselves as facilitators, not preachers or school teachers. Poole sees this facilitating quality as essential to the small seeker group. When the leader acts a facilitator, he or she allows the participant to discover the answers for him or herself. Poole describes these as “aha moments.” As good teachers know, learning only takes place when a student genuinely understands and demonstrates that they have discovered the concept in his or her own way. This is beneficial for the student or participant of the small group because in their moment, they are invested in what they have learned. Most often, the participant is motivated to learn more as a result of some previous moment. In my youth group, I’ve noticed that we tend to be preachy at our kids, instead of allowing them to grapple with the concepts and discover. I believe if we, as youth workers, practice more facilitation, we will find more of our kids motivated to deal with their spirituality, instead of waiting for the cue of the youth leader or other adults.  Perhaps, my kids would be able to learn the technique and be better leaders for their peers.

 
Principle Three: Questioning

Formulating questions for the discussion is key to becoming a good facilitator. The purpose of questioning is to provide a beginning for the participants to discover their truths. Invaluable to the process of the seeker small group, the skill of questioning elicits thoughtful responses from the participants. Often, people think that questioning is intuitive or “impromptu”, but a skilled questioner uses the following guidelines to ask provocative questions that challenge the participants.

 

Poole’s outline of these five guidelines for effective questioning are

Ø        prepare in advance,

Ø        be clear and concise questions,

Ø        draw out opinions and feeling,

Ø        keep questions open-ended, and

Ø        clarify the responses of the participants.

 

Just as a carefully planned lesson, the questioner should prepare how they will build the questions so there is a natural progression in the participants thinking and discovery. Obviously, there is an intended end, but the questions should allow the participants a chance to reach that end in the participant’s own way. In my youth group, these guidelines will give my leaders a tangible way of fostering this skill for themselves.  The result is that our youth will be more apt to self-discovery, and develop great conversations that would lead to life-changing actions.

 
Principle Four: Using the Spiritual discovery model

In Seeker Small Group Poole articulates a five-part spiritual discovery process he believes each individual ventures through in his or her personal development. In this process, the intensity of the seeking determines the stage of the seeker in his or her process. Poole suggests that we identify the stage of seeker; then we can better support and encourage the seekers in our groups to realize their goal.

The keys to effective facilitation are a recognition on the facilitator’s part that seeking is a process that must proceed at the seeker’s speed or timing and a recognition that the facilitator’s role is to be an aid in the process, allowing God to move and bring truth to the seeking individual in God’s own timing.

This five-phase process includes

1.       identification (seekers identify what they believe),

2.       clarification (seekers clarify why they believe what they do),

3.       exploration (seekers explore alternative truth opinions),

4.       evaluation (seekers evaluate new discoveries), and

5.       decision (seekers decide what to believe).

It is important to note here that this is a process for each spiritual truth that we find. Once one makes a decision, the process begins another cycle as one seeks to uncover more of his or her initial discovery.

Often, we challenge people to first make a decision and then discover spiritual truths for themselves. The result often causes resistance because they have not been allowed to explore their natural process through the model. When I look back on my own experience, I went through this process, although I might not have articulated in these exact five phases. Like me, many others who were truly seeking, were not given space and opportunity to venture through this process.

For young people, who are developmentally searching for identity and thwarting authority that tells them who they should be, I believe that using this model for understanding one’s evolution would result in more surrendered youth for Christ. Often, we guilt or lord the gospel over their heads without them internalizing their own spirituality. As I seek to build up the youth department at my church, this will be one of the first trainings that I offer, for the leaders need to be aware and practice observing the model as we interact with our youth.          
                                               

Conclusion:

In his book, Seeker Small Group, Garry Poole gives many principles to create and maintain small seeker groups. Though the seeker group is used primarily as an evangelistic tool in his book, I plan to adapt the principles outlined above within the practices of my youth department. I believe that these principles not only make evangelism more effective, but also allows for a more effective discipleship effort. The principles that I plan to use in my youth department are: setting a conducive atmosphere for youth meetings, developing the leader as facilitator, and the implementation of the Spiritual Discovery Model. All of these principles allow each participant to feel safe to ask questions, to feel safe to share their intimate parts of themselves, and to develop their thoughts and concepts of their spirituality more effectively.

I really have appreciated the underlying tone of this book in allowing God’s timing and call to be the force that attracts participants to seek out their spirituality. Inherent in the principles of this book, the process allows genuine introspection for the individual. When allowed to advance through the process the individual can clearly see himself or herself as "bankrupt" and in need of God. Reflecting on my own experience, I know it took time for me to see how much I needed God in my life. Ultimately, I believe it honors God’s purpose of the Gospel, true commitment. God never forces Himself or His will on us, He asks for us to give it willingly—that is the loving God that we serve. So how much more should we operate in this mode as we disciple and encourage the seekers around us?

 
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1.     Did you get enough about this book to read it yourself?  Why or why not?

2.     From what was written above, are you convinced that young people need more discussion than preaching?

3.     What from the above can make you a better discussion leader?

4.     Imagine yourself in a group of post-modern, post-Christian young people. What would bring such a group together, begin the bond the group, and lead some to a faith commitment?

 
IMPLICATIONS

1.     Students today do need much more opportunity to discuss. And they need good discussion leaders.

2.     If you don’t think you could lead a group of seekers, who have no faith commitment, you do need to read this book. Its stories will motivate, and its principles will instruct and further your skills.

 
Kara N. Dunn, c.  CYS