Church Groups
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor
Ecclesiastes 4:9
Local groups are an excellent way to utilize the Setting Captives Free study materials. Local group studies foster discipleship relationships in the local body and frequently engage those who are not currently attending church.
Suggestions For Leading a Local Group
- Pray. Ask the Lord for His leading.
- If you want to lead your group in your local church, check with the church leadership for their guidance and approval. They can help you determine which dates/times would be the best option for your study to meet.
- If you plan to host the group outside of your local church, you might host the group in your home or investigate options for meeting at your local community center or library. You could even meet through Zoom.
- Select a day of the week and time to meet and determine how many times you will meet. For example, Setting Captives Free studies are usually 30 lessons long. If participants complete six lessons a week and meet once a week, you’ll need to meet at least five times. You might also want to have an introductory and concluding meeting. There is a lot of flexibility here; do what works best for your group.
- Determine how long your meetings will last. This will vary based on the size of your group and how much each person contributes, but you should plan for at least an hour.
- Let others know about the group study: you could put an announcement in your church bulletin, send out an email invitation to your friends, neighbors, or co-workers, announce your group through social media, or put up a flyer on your local community bulletin board.
- Set a start date, notify those you are inviting, and give them access to get the study materials. Option 1: Participants all complete their course online. Option 2: Order books for all the group members to have on hand the first time you meet. Option 3: Give the link for each member to order their own book.
Available Books
Group Meetings
- Open group meeting in prayer
- Sing or play worship music (optional).
- Do a brief review of the six lessons covered that week.
- Invite each participant to share one thing they learned or that was most significant to them that week.
- Ask for questions or concerns. It is important to keep the group gospel-focused during this time.
- Pray for one another. You can break up into groups if needed.
Other Resources
Setting Captives Free PowerPoint Presentation by JanetpptxA PowerPoint presentation made to introduce Setting Captives Free to your local church or community group.