How to Schedule Your Meetings with Other Christians

Below I list a number of categories to help you organize your meetings with other Christians, whether your church leaders label these gatherings as “small groups,” “home groups,” “house churches,” or otherwise.

Adapt the following information as you see fit, and then use it to invite others and clarify what you want to do together.

  • Location:

  • Host(s) & Contact Information:

    (e.g. Hank Hospitality, (xxx) xxx-xxxx, _____@gmail.com)

  • Small Group Leader(s) & Contact Information:

  • Frequency of Meetings: (e.g. every other Sunday night during the summer and every Sunday night the rest of the year)

  • Meeting Times: (e.g. 4:30–7:30 p.m.)

  • Meeting Schedule:

    Example #1: A sample schedule for an extended meeting

    • 4:30–5:30 p.m.: Dinner and Clean Up

    • 5:30–7:00 p.m.: Men’s and Women’s Groups* OR Couples Study Together

      • Bible Study, Personal Sharing, and Prayer for 60–90 minutes

      • Socialize & Minister to One Another with the Remaining Time

    • 7:00–7:30 p.m.: When the time is right, the host says, “I love each of you dearly, but kindly make your way to the door.”

    Because we have small children in our home group, we adapt the schedule above. At 4:30 p.m., the men serve the women and children dinner, and then the men meet privately for 60–90 minutes. Once the men are done, they eat and look after the kids while the women break away for 60–90 minutes.

    Example #2: A sample schedule for an evening Bible study

    • 6:00–6:15 p.m.: Arrive and Greet One Another

    • 6:15–7:15+ p.m.: Bible Study, Personal Sharing, and Prayer

    As a former pastor of small group ministries, and both as a small group leader and participant, I appreciate strict time parameters—something you can always relax over time. For every person who does not mind going over the stated time limits, there is someone who doesn’t.

  • Meal Schedule (if applicable): In our home group, one family (or individual) takes responsibility for providing the meal for the entire group for a given night, and then that responsibility passes to the next family, until we return to the first family and the process starts over.

  • Study Materials (if applicable): In our home group, we study the sermons from Sunday morning, which I post here under “Sermon Outlines/Discussion Guides.” See here for book and study guide recommendations.

* I believe that men and women should talk, pray, sing, and study the Bible together in public settings. But as the information we share becomes more personal in nature (such as our struggles with particular sins), and apart from husbands and wives sharing openly within their own marriages, I suggest that men meet with other men and women meet with other women.