The Power of “Connectors”
Written by Nikomas, who leads the Student Ministry team at Harvester Christian Church
If you’re like me, you love your Small Group Leaders. They are the kings and queens of small-group time! They can either make or break your ministry. But, if your programming is like mine, you also have large-group time (pre-service hangout, worship, stage games, etc.). So why not have Large Group kings and queens too! That is exactly what our ministry did a few years ago, and we’re reaping the benefits from it now. We call these people our “Connectors”.
A Connector’s sole focus is the large group time. Our ministry needed that focus, ‘cause lets be honest, Small Group Leaders enter this time a little biased. They seek out their few…which is great! We want them to do that! But we needed adults who were going to seek out the kids who weren’t connected yet. We need adults who weren’t connected with anyone, so that they could connect with everyone!
So what exactly is the difference between a “Connector” and a “Small Group” leader? I’m glad you asked!
CONNECTORS EXCEL AT CROWDS
Small Group Leaders are asked to focus on their few students. We ask connectors to focus on the crowd. Instead of having deep conversations with a few people, we ask them to meet as many people as they can. We want everyone in the room to feel like someone talked to them. We especially ask connectors to converse with any student who seems new or distant.
CONNECTORS PASS STUDENTS ON
Small Group leaders build relationships. We ask connectors to pass on relationships to others. After a connector has a short conversation with a new student, we ask them to introduce him/her to their new Small Group Leader or to a fellow student. We have taught our students that if a connector introduces them to a new student, they are that students buddy for the rest of the day. They must pull them into their friend circle, sit with them, and keep them by their side.
CONNECTORS ARE EASY TO RECRUIT
Connectors are fairly easy to recruit! They don’t have to write lessons. They don’t have to lead discussions. They’re not locked in a class room (or as I like to call it: “The Gas Chamber”) with 6th grade boys every week. All they have to do is show up and have lots of conversations. (Warning: since they have few “tasks” they need to be reminded how important they are, otherwise they’ll be very inconsistent).
CONNECTORS GROW INTO SMALL GROUP LEADERS
You’ll see that some leaders, after interacting with your wonderful students, will desire to go relationally deeper. While the Connector role is a great way to introduce new adults to your ministry, it’s also a great farm system for your small group team…and the Lord knows we could use a few more small group leaders!
Have you used connectors in your ministry? Or maybe you’re using a different strategy that works better? Let’s hear it in the comment section below.
Nikomas leads the Student Ministry team at Harvester Christian Church (St. Louis, MO) where he serves as the Middle School Pastor. He loves youth ministry, his wife and two daughters, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball. Combining any of those loves together causes him to giggle like a girl. You can connect with him on twitter or facebook.