When it comes to leading a small group we need to do just that…lead. Leading requires us to do some things that we don’t necessary want to do. When we lead small groups we are going through passages from Scripture and we are talking about life there are some things that are going to come up in your students lives that will require the hard conversation we tend to dread. No one likes to call out someone, but it is part of the responsibilities that we take on when we decide to take a group.

One of the biggest things I have learned in my own life and faith is we grow more spiritually when we are out of our comfort zones. We grow when we are uncomfortable.

As we go through life with students things are going to get messy. When we read about or talk about an issue the student needs to directly deal with we need to be able and confident in helping them walk through it. It should go something like this:

Student will realize what the Bible has to say about a certain thing.

The student then realizes that they need to make a change in how they think or act about a certain thing and this causes the uncomforted in faith.

We as leaders are to guide them towards that action.

Our job as leaders to push our students to make the right decision rather than the easy one.

The student will decide to work towards that action and we as leaders are to walk them through their uncomfortableness to help them grow in their faith.

When we help student navigate through the uncomfortableness of some real life faith issues we know that in the future it will be easier to take on the next challenge to obedience they encounter in the Bible.

Even though the tough conversation of teaching and correction are not what students love, they are critical to have if we want to see our students grow. Growth comes with uncomfortableness. We know that some of the Words of God are uncomfortable but we as leaders know when it demands a change of mindset or lifestyle, they are even more uncomfortable and we need to walk our students on what this looks like.

Embrace the uncomfortable and we will see our students grow. Have those conversations and be intentional with them and as awkward as they are, you can see growth out of them. God will help us through the uncomfortableness and help us to become more like Jesus.