Any follower of Jesus can lead an Abide Group. Being familiar with how the Bible Reading Tool and Prayer Tool work are necessary for modeling to the other participants.

Leaders can of course make use of the training materials and videos as a resource to help train their groups on how to use the tools.

The leader in an Abide Group is more or less the initiator of the group rather than a teacher or the “most mature” disciple in the group. However, the leader does bear the responsibility of setting the tone for what will happen: he or she will introduce the discipleship tools, and sets the expectations for faithful participation and making new groups when their season is ended.

You can also invite someone who is just exploring a relationship with Jesus and is curious. Diving into God’s Word and asking questions as they go is an incredible opportunity for evangelism and growth for everyone in the group.

We set the limit at 5 because it gets a lot harder for each person to share and have time to time to discuss when the group gets larger than that.

Abide Groups should meet at least once a month, but could be as frequently as weekly. Meetings can be on a fixed schedule or be adjusted each time to the schedule constraints of the participants.

Groups should meet frequently enough however that it is a regular rhythm for the group participants.

Abide Groups should commit to meet regularly for a set time of around 6-18 months tops. At the end of this season, group members are encouraged to then start new groups to lead on their own.

Meetings can happen over a lunch break, during breakfast, between classes, or even after a round of golf or some other hobby.

The key is finding a time that already makes sense in your group’s schedules so it can stick as a regular pattern.

Once you work through the questions from the Bible Reading Tool, you can help keep each other accountable to do the things God has directed each of you to do.

Groups can then finish their time together in prayer using the Prayer Tool as a guide.

An example of how to use your time could look like this:

• Use the first 10-15 minutes catching up and reflecting on any follow up to the steps of obedience from last time.
• Use 30 minutes either to do a “Live Study” of a passage or use it to discuss and share items that God has revealed in reading His Word since the last time you met. Make sure you’re not just answering the first question of the Bible Reading Tool, but are sharing what the personal steps are that you want to be obedient in.
• Take 5 minutes or so to make a plan to hold one another accountable to do the things God has directed you to do.
• Finish with 10 minutes of prayer.

Your group schedule may look a little different than this example, and that’s ok, but having time in God’s Word and in prayer are essential qualities of an Abide Group.

That’s up to you, just keep in mind the group works best in that 3-5 range. We would suggest that once you get your committed few, stick with them through the season together. You’ll benefit from the trust and intentionality that comes with a smaller committed group.

Life Groups aren’t super portable either, they tend to stick together for a longer season which is actually a really good and unifying thing as it strengthens the bonds of relationship in our local church. Abide Groups are designed to reproduce and be a short term relationship with an expectation to multiply.

You could be in both a Life Group and an Abide Group at the same time, or one or the other. Some Abide Groups could even be made up of folks who are in the same Life Group. Both discipleship environments are healthy forms of biblical community.