I’m doing some fact finding and research about home based small groups and discipleship for our Student Ministry. Currently we have small groups that meet together within the context of our Wednesday night services, and they work well, but could be better.

This summer we are trying to get as much information as we can as we formulate a strategy for this fall. We are thinking of creating a few select “proto-type” groups that will help us learn. Some of these groups we might determine how the students are grouped (grade, school, location, etc), while letting others create themselves, some may feature video curriculum, some may follow up the weekly messages. We are open to any and all ideas. We would take the best of these models and launch them with all of our students beginning in January ‘09.

Do you have experience with these types of groups in your church or student ministry? Are there formats that worked/didn’t work for you? Do you know of some resources or contacts that we should consider in our search?

Anything you’ve got would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.