Help those who shepherd to enable their people to identify each other's spiritual gifts and to work together in loving harmony in the spirit of 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13, and the "one another" passages of the New Testament..

Agree together as a new church or home group on what the group will be and do.

• Study the "one another" dynamics of the New Testament.
• Discuss thoroughly each item as a group, and agree prayerfully to include it in a covenant or agreement, which will be repeated occasionally by the group.
• This may take several weeks.
• Such a covenant might read, for example:

Keep home groups small enough to practice these one another dynamics.

Use a concordance to find the "one another" or "each other" commands in the New Testament.

Find in John 13:34-35 the basis for the family life of the church, according to Jesus.

Find in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 - 13 several things that God does to create true church "body" life. Also find several things that we do.

T&M Student Activity Guide, page 23

Who are the actual and potential small group leaders?

• Have others who know them express their experience with those persons' gifts, maturity and ethics.
• If that is not a culturally appropriate thing to do, then wait and observe months for some months.
• Then let a panel of believers select those who will be asked to lead groups.

Institute some means of record keeping for small groups: attendance, kinds of persons, challenges and opportunities that arise.

• Ensure that every group leaders agrees to report pastoral concerns to the staff and knows when and how to do that.
• Let those reports keep the staff informed of current needs. Help group leaders plan more edifying activities if their groups are lagging.