Hey, welcome to another episode of the Small Group Toolbox. And we're in a short series concluding this series today on the first four weeks to think about a growth group, things to think about for the first four weeks. And so far we've covered setting group goals, early aspects of relationship building, how to think about venue. And today we're going to think about communication. So how is your group going to communicate with each other? What sort of app platform, whatever are you going to use and how's that going to work? And I think this could be thought of as just like, oh, like a meaningless admin-y kind of thing, but I don't think it is. I think this, how you communicate is actually an expression of Christian speech. I think we want the way we communicate, not just within group, but during the week without various platforms is something we want to do as Christians in a Christian way.
So when you look in the Bible to think about speech, loads of places, but a great little go-to spot for Christian speech is Ephesians 4, 29 to 32. Let's read that now and make a few comments. So Ephesians 4, 29 says, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ, God forgave you.
All right, I'll make a few comments on that, just particularly with reference to group communication during the week. So there's a couple of negative things there, things that we are not, this is a negative, or we're not supposed to do. So no unwholesome talk. No bitterness, rage and anger, brawling slander, which I think comes out particularly in speech is the point here in these verses. These are the negative things, the things that we're not supposed to do. And I think sometimes in our communications online, text messages, we can end up saying negative things, things that are not helpful, not beneficial on the platforms, whatever it might be. yeah, our Christian speech during the week, yeah, let's not say those negative kind of messages that can be unwholesome, that's not good.
Then there's some positive things though here. So positive, say things that are what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that may benefit those who listen. Now, obviously loads there for speech, but I think with messages and posts and texts and things, yeah, we can think about the same sort of principle. Am I posting this thing for my needs or is it for the needs of others?
Yeah, those sort of so in harmony that it's not a drama. But yeah, what can I say and what can I do in our messaging, our communication that will build others up, be beneficial for them? And then another positive is the theme of forgiveness here. It's worth mentioning verse 32, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ, God forgave you. As there will be times in growth group communication when we might need to forgive each other or forbear with each other. Remember someone saying they felt negative towards the group because nobody had sort of liked or commented on their post or prayer request, whatever it was.
Now, there are going to be various reasons for that. you know, people are busy, they they overwhelmed their amusing things, whatever it might be just for a while. But it does feel a hurtful if you don't get the sort of comments and likes and things from what you've posted. But that's a time for forgiveness for giving people if the group communication hasn't been great for you in that particular time.
So let's be forgiving for each other as to how we work out with group communication. But of course, there's negative and the positive there. Behind all of this is spiritual basis, verse 32, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Behind all this, we are spiritual beings. We have the Holy Spirit of God. That shapes who we are, our relationship with God, our relationship with each other. We don't want to be doing things with our speech that grieve the Holy Spirit and doing things that please the Holy Spirit. So I think all that kind of applies to group communication. So thinking practically now, you're in the first four weeks of growth group, you ought to be having a conversation, maybe you've had it already about how are gonna communicate as a group?
What and there's I think probably a what and a how question there. So what platform are we going to use? Is it WhatsApp or Messenger or big group text or some other platform? I don't know. You got to think what's appropriate for your group members. That could be anything from some kind of Snapchat thing or calling people up on the telephone, if that's your age group.
But so what is the communication thing? Ideally get by and to that so that everyone agrees. Sometimes you'll have a person in your group who doesn't have messenger or doesn't have WhatsApp or the particular platform. And as a leader, you want to say, well, don't just assume it's a straightforward thing for them to pick that up. They might have made deliberate choices not to have that sort of platform because for spiritual reasons, they find it unhelpful addictions, that sort of thing. But maybe they just need a bit of help technically setting it up. You can say, look, you can do this and you can block this and it'll work fine. Would that be all right? Or maybe it's just not going to happen. And you need to think about some other alternatives for communication. We as a leader, may even need to just explain, they may not get everything, but you'll try and communicate with them as you can. So work out the what, get everyone into sharing numbers, make it look good, have some images, pictures, give it some energy and creativity. And then how you want to talk a little bit about how we're use this communication platform. And there'll be different principles. I principles definitely coming out of what we saw in Ephesians there. So yeah, this is for positive things, this is for encouragement. We want this to be a great sort of place for people to post the things that are important, prayer points, praise points, thanksgivings, social events, that kind of stuff.
Also a little bit on logistics, it'll go there but you kind of want volume in your group chat. I think if there's too much logistics, it becomes just like a formal channel and people don't feel confident to put things on there. But if there's lots of stuff happening, fun things, prayer points, that will help. So how are we gonna use it? Yeah, positive things, post lots of things and try and be generous towards others as they post things. Comment, like, love the things that come up. It doesn't take long.
But remember, yeah, if people don't particularly comment on your post or something like that, be forgiving. It doesn't mean that they're upset with you or anything. It's this is just how these kind of things work. yeah, lots of forgiveness there as well. So yeah, and then as a leader, of course, you're going to set an example. As you post some fun things, things are excited about church. Yeah, it try not to let it all be just group announcements of who's on supper and what our roster duties are. Bring a bit of that community into your communication. So yeah, I think if you do that, you'll be up for a good start there. That kind of concludes our series on the first four weeks. And next time we'll be looking into lots of other things about small group leading. If you've got ideas, things you'd like me to talk about, please let me know. Thanks guys.