Focused Groups
A focused group comes together for a specific purpose and/or a limited time. It may focus on a particular type of growth. For example, I’ve led groups where I’ve gathered several women who have been “invited to leave” other groups because their wounding caused them to overwhelm the group and leader. We focused specifically on how to be in a group.
You can read more about this type of group in Why Didn’t You Warn Me? How to Deal with Challenging Group Members. A focused group may deal with a recovery issue, such as substance abuse or childhood wounding. These groups can be open or closed, and then add a specific focus.
In addition to the advantages and disadvantages listed under the Closed, Limited Duration Discipleship groups, these groups add the following:
Advantages of Focused Groups:
- These groups bring together people dealing with similar issues, so they become very focused. Because of this, members often become friends and do things socially outside of the group, providing an effective and needed community.
- Prayer requests may be limited to the group’s focus. So, in a group dealing with recovery issues, prayer requests and discussions are generally limited to those issues. Although this sounds limiting, it results in the greatest growth of any type of group I know of.
Disadvantages of Focused Groups:
- Some people don’t want to focus (and therefore shouldn’t be part of this type of group).
- Some people feel a stigma at being part of this type of group.
Read about the other types of Groups
Leave a Reply