Activity · Communion
Encouragement Night
Everyone in the room hears what they mean to the people around them
Leader Context
This one is a celebration. Everybody gets to hear what they mean to the group and what the group sees in them.
It can be powerful. Every leader should run it at least once a quarter, and the end of a quarter is the natural moment, when there is enough shared history to draw on.
Read to your group
Tonight we are going to do something different. We are going to go around the room, one person at a time, and everyone else says what they appreciate about that person.
I will start, and I will start with one of you.
Questions
The three questions
Ask these about each person, one person at a time.
What do you value and appreciate about this person?
What are the strengths you see in them?
How have you watched them grow while we have been together?
Next Steps for Leaders
- Come with something ready for every single person. If the group misses someone, you fill the gap. Nobody leaves without hearing something.
- Be truthful. Do not encourage someone with a compliment you made up. People can tell, and a fabricated word is worse than no word.
- Capture it if you can. One group wrote what was said around the border of a picture frame and took a group photo for it. People kept it on a desk for years.
- Watch what surfaces. What people say about each other tells you who is carrying the group and who is drifting.