Fall 2026 · Week 1
Your First Night
Get everyone talking, then get everyone on the same page
For leadersBefore you startLeader note, central theme, and two suggested activities
Leader Note
Welcome to the first week of group.
This week is about building the foundation of connection in your group. Story Cards is a great way to do that, and it is ready to run as is.
If this is your first time leading, we do our best to get the questions to you by noon on Monday each week.
One more thing worth doing this week. Review the group ground rules with your group. Do that again every time somebody new joins. It is a good reminder for the people already there, and it is how the values of the group get said out loud.
Central Theme
Week one is not about content. It is about whether people come back for week two.
They come back if they talked, if somebody listened, and if they know what the next nine weeks look like.
Suggested activity
Story Cards
A deck of photos that gets a room of near strangers telling the truth in ten minutes
Suggested activity
Dinner Group Guidelines
Show up. Join in. Be real.
Three guidelines, and they carry the whole group. It is not required to cover this on the first night, but it is worth covering by the end of your second week.
Walk through the Dinner Group Guidelines and talk as a group about what it means to show up, join in, and be real.
Discussion Questions
Pick the questions that fit your group tonight. You do not have to cover them all. How the questions work.
Getting started
Run Story Cards first. Give it the full time. This is the connection half of the night and it does more work than anything else you will do this fall.
Which picture best represents how you think or feel about beginning this group?
What this group is
It helps when the leader talks the group through the overview. Do not assume anybody knows how this works.
What will our group look like, and what can you expect each week?
When and how we meet
Settle it now, out loud, with everyone in the room.
When will we meet, how long will we meet, and are there any requests about how we do it?
Who does what
Four roles, and none of them is “the leader knows the most.”
Individuals own their growth. The group supports the growth. The leader encourages the growth. The church partners in growth. Where do you see yourself in that?
For leadersAfter groupNext steps this week
- Give Story Cards the full time. Do not cut it short to get to the overview. The overview takes ten minutes.
- Write down what you heard tonight. You just learned what season every person in your group is in.
- Text the group tomorrow. Name one thing somebody said that stuck with you.
- Reach out to anyone who said they were coming and did not. Week one no shows become week four dropouts unless somebody notices.
- Get your roster into Planning Center this week while the names are fresh.
Next Week
Personal Growth. We introduce the Experience Plan, which is how each person names one step they want to take this fall.