Training · Better Together
Planning Your Pillars
Two sample ten week plans, one for brand new groups and one for groups that have been together a while
Here are two sample ten week plans built on the pillars. Use one as it is, or adapt your own.
Starting out, keep it simple and focus on one pillar a night. Most of these activities run 15 to 30 minutes, so if you have time left in the evening, fall back on the weekly discussion questions. They are always there.
The ten week plan, recommended for new groups
This is the plan our ten week groups run. Each week you get one activity for that week’s pillar. Every row below links to the page for it.
| Week | Pillar | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecting | Story Cards |
| 2 | Personal growth | Introduce the Experience Plan |
| 3 | Common growth | Discussion questions |
| 4 | Communion | Share our stories |
| 5 | Personal growth | Experience plan check in |
| 6 | Communion | Communion |
| 7 | Connecting | Us Night |
| 8 | Common growth | Discussion questions |
| 9 | Personal growth | Experience plan check in |
| 10 | Communion | Encouragement Night |
This plan ran all year under the name Blueprints, and briefly as Leader Tool in April 2026. Both names are retired. They are Activities now, and they live on the Activities shelf.
Week 3 is a good night to lay out the ground rules for your group. Week 4 is stories, and one warning there: you will not get through everybody in one night, and whatever length you go first, everyone else will match.
Sample ten week plan for existing groups
This one shows how to pair two pillars in a night once your group has a rhythm.
| Week | Pillar | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecting and personal growth | Connect with one another, plus the experience plan |
| 2 | Common growth | Discussion questions |
| 3 | Connecting | Sponsored connection event |
| 4 | Communion | Devotionals |
| 5 | Common growth | Discussion questions |
| 6 | Personal growth | Experience plan |
| 7 | Communion and common growth | Worship, plus discussion questions |
| 8 | Connecting | Serve a local organization |
| 9 | Common growth | Discussion questions |
| 10 | Communion | Encouragement Night |
Your group’s plan
Booklet page 7 is a blank table for planning your own ten weeks. It is a worksheet, so it stays a download rather than a page. Print it, fill it in, and keep it where you will see it.
TODO(nick): Planning your own ten weeks belongs in the app, not on paper
This is a phase two feature. Until a leader can build a plan against the Activities shelf and have it show up on their own page, the blank table stays a PDF.
Sit with this
What is something you would like to see your group do beyond discussion questions?