We’re just a few weeks away from starting a new year, and some of you who lead groups won’t see many of your group members until 2024 because of their holiday travel plans in December. Others of you won’t meet as a group on Christmas Eve because your church, like mine, is focusing all of its energy on the morning worship services, canceling groups that day.

With just a couple of Sundays until the new year begins, now is the time for you to determine a few attainable goals for your group in 2024. I’d like to propose four goals that will change your group:

1. Pray for the lost more frequently. Most Bible study groups tend to turn inward after being together more than 2 years. When this happens, an outward focus on the lost tends to disappear. Group leaders can keep an evangelistic focus in their groups by leading them to pray specifically for lost people known by group members. The frequency is up to you, but at least once-a-month will remind group members that the group exists for people who are far from God.
2. Schedule a regular fellowship each quarter. Enlisting just one person to be your group’s Fellowship Leader will pay big dividends. It will be their job to schedule a fellowship for the group every quarter. This becomes a great opportunity to connect guests to your group, and to invite absentee group members back for a time of fun (if they’ve been absent a lot, it’s awkward for them to just show up at your group’s Bible study). Remember: parties can be purposeful!
3. Lead your group to serve people in the church and community. The people who live in your city have lots of needs, and your group can play a part in meeting those needs. Consider scheduling a “Saturday Serve Day” every 90 days. Adopt a school and paint the playground or do some yardwork for the school, sort clothes and canned goods at a shelter, or answer phones at a crisis pregnancy center. Perhaps your church has a group of senior adults or widows (widowers) who need some help (my group once spent a Saturday pulling down cobwebs and changing out light bulbs for senior adults). There is no shortage of people who need a little help.
4. Reclaim absentee group members. If your group is a normal one, you have people on your group’s ministry list who haven’t been around for months – or years! As a new year begins, it’s always a good time to divide those names among your active group members and reach out to the absentees. Your job isn’t to get them to come back to class (although we want that to happen), but it’s to check on them and let them know they are valued and missed, and that the group is ready to minister to them if there is a need.

I hope that 2024 is great for you and your group! Set a few reachable goals, get your group refocused on disciple-making, ministry, care, and fellowship, and 2024 will be your best year ever.