Shepherding a Small Group

SUMMARY

This course is designed to equip small group leaders to move beyond facilitating discussions to genuinely shepherding the souls of the people in their care. The course introduces a biblical framework for soul care and develops the relational skills required to listen well, ask good questions, discern spiritual and emotional need, speak truth in love, and pray with people in the ordinary and extraordinary moments of group life. It also teaches leaders to walk faithfully with members through crisis, doubt, grief, and marital difficulty while recognizing the limits of their role, referring well, and sustaining their own souls for a lifetime of ministry.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Articulate a biblical theology of the heart and define soul care,
  distinguishing it from professional counseling.
• The student will be able to practice the core relational skills of shepherding, including active and reflective listening, pastoral questioning, and the discipline of unhurried presence.
• The student will be able to diagnose spiritual and emotional need by reading verbal and non-verbal cues and distinguishing conviction from shame and apathy from exhaustion.
• The student will be able to speak truth in love and foster a group culture of prayer, confession, and mutual burden-bearing.
• The student will be able to respond wisely to crisis, emotional woundedness, doubt, and marital fracture, knowing when and how to set boundaries and make referrals.
• The student will be able to develop sustainable rhythms of rest and replenishment in order to shepherd with integrity of heart over the long term.