Are you preparing a lesson for a small group?
Want to be more equipped for the next time?
Stay on track by keeping your point sharp.
Too Dull?
Have you tried cutting paper with dull scissors? Or peeling potatoes with a dull knife?
And surely you’ve sat in a dull class, wishing you were elsewhere?
What’s the point? When teachers (or let’s be honest, even friends) ramble on and on with no point, it can feel like a real time-waster.
So when it’s your turn to lead—whether a lecture in Sunday school or a discussion in a Facebook group or just at lunch with your friends—don’t be the dull one.
Be sharp. When you have something to say, whatever the forum, make your point clear and concise enough to be heard and felt.
All month we’re giving tips on how to be an effective small group leader, whether you’re a newbie or a pro, with our #LeadingEffectively series.
Today we’re giving you a free template to use.
Try these questions to uncover the heart of your lesson. To make a lasting difference, you must sharpen your point.
Make It Sharp
How?
Here is a proven method to discover the essence of your lesson (get the printable). I’ve used it again and again in ladies’ classes, in blog posts, in marketing materials for non-profits, and yes, even as prep work for important discussions with friends. It’s compiled from advice in Made to Stick and Presenting to Win.
Ask yourself this series of questions. With each level, dig deeper. Do it quickly (it can take as little as 5 minutes) or pray through it for days.
You’ll come out with the one most treasured nugget you want to share.
Then build your lesson around it. It’s as easy as A-B-C.
A – About
Identify the key players to be most effective.
# 1. Who is this for?
# 2. What is their need?
# 3. Why am I teaching this?
As much as possible, (# 1) pinpoint your audience before you construct your lesson. A talk to nonbelievers might be angled differently than to a group of lifetime believers. (# 2) Pray about the main thing your specific group needs. Answer with one sentence.
And then ask yourself, (# 3) Why me? Why does God have you here giving this message at this time to these people? What do you bring to the table that no one else does? As with all the questions, answer again with only one sentence.
Once you’ve defined your why, you can move on to the next set of questions to determine your what and how.
B – Bottom Line
If you haven’t consolidated your main point, your audience won’t take one home. As leader, ask yourself these questions.
# 4. What is my main point?
# 5. The single, most important way this can help them tomorrow is . . .
# 6. How does this glorify God?
Here’s an example.
(# 4) For our Bible memorization groups, despite what you might think, the main point isn’t to memorize words. Then why are we memorizing? To enhance our relationship with Jesus. We use the words to help us achieve that goal.
(# 5) What’s the single, most important way that memorizing can help us? It gives us a tangible set of words to study with, to pray through, to meditate on, to converse with God about. Memorizing provides the tangible process for our main goal of relationship-building.
(# 6) How does memorizing scripture glorify God? By getting closer to Him, we hope to become more like Him, revealing His love to those we encounter, which brings Him honor.
By nailing down your bottom line, you can stay on target when you’re tempted to drift toward undefined tangents.
Now you’re ready to have a conversation.
C – Conversation
Start an imaginary conversation in your head with your group, using the following questions and statements.
# 7. This lesson is important to you because . . .
# 8. Who cares? You should care because . . .
# 9. Here are the rewards for you (state benefits clearly) . . .
# 10. Here’s what you can do right now . . .
I have this conversation with you, the reader, as I write this article.
(# 7) Why is this article important to you? Because you truly want to help others see and love God more. (# 8) Why should you care? Because you’re either leading a small group now or you will later, and you want to make a difference. (# 9) What rewards will you get? You’ll have another tool to hone your future lessons more efficiently and effectively. (# 10) What can you do right now? Download the template and work through these 10 questions.
Don’t Waste Your Message
After your heart-work is done and you’ve centered your lesson around a theme, remember to release it all to God.
Just as He worked with you in preparing it, He’ll continue to work through you as you deliver it.
Allow His Spirit to breathe through it. He can enhance what you’ve already set up and make it even sharper. He can prick hearts in places you can’t reach.
One of my favorite classes at church was a Wednesday night series called Oasis. Each week we gathered in a well-prepared setting to celebrate a specific theme of God’s promised rest, an oasis in our week. Every song, video, scripture reading, and discussion focused our attention on one main aspect of God.
The message was easy to remember after we left. We were given practical suggestions to practice throughout our week. Years later, I still recall certain lessons and how they blessed me.
As a leader of a small group (your family counts!) or a large group, you have an opportunity every week to make an impression through the love of Christ. Don’t waste your moment.
Don’t be a dull blade.
Stay sharp.
Download your printable PDF here.
What helps you stay on topic when leading or participating in a small group? Do you have a favorite tip for preparing a lesson?
Great questions, thank you!
Unfortunately, it’s a question we sometimes forget to ask ourselves! But it’s critical. Thanks for stopping by, Bethany.
Lisa, you caught me with the graphic! I am a pencil person and LOVE my little pencil sharpener more than our electric one! These are wonderful questions to ask ourselves so that we lead and share effectively. Thank you for this!
Thanks, Joanne. I have had several pencils almost eaten entirely by an electric pencil sharpener. ha. I do love a good pencil as well. And a sharp point. :)
Oh, my goodness, YES to everything you said here! I’ve been pondering some of these questions as I start working on a presentation to interior design students about our local historic district revitalization efforts. Perfect timing, Lisa!
Yay for good timing! :) I’m sure your presentation will be great, Susan. And what an interesting topic!
Great questions to ask, whether for a presentation or writing or if giving an interview.
Yes, I use the questions in many different contexts. They really help me boil down what I want to convey instead of just wandering all over the place. :) Thanks, Theresa.
Excellent questions to consider for every Bible study, lesson, outline, talk, or even anything in writing!
Thanks, Elizabeth. These questions have served me well. I sometimes tweak them slightly for different situations, but overall they’ve stood the test of time for me.
Great questions to ask to provide clear messages, Lisa. Thank you for sharing!
“So what?” became my go-to question for awhile. :) This list of questions helped me figure out a more in-depth way to get to the bottom of a message. Thanks, Crystal.
Good thoughts, Lisa, for many applications. I’ve been reading a lot about writing lately, and one point that’s often emphasized is “What is the take-away for your reader” – similar to your #4. Even in just telling a story to my husband about something that happened, I could take so long in building up to it and feeling like I had to include every little detail, that I lost him. So refining what the main point is and the best way to lead to it and bring it home to the hearer/reader helps cut out extraneous material. I’ve even done something similar to this in some conversations that need to go over a specific topic, often a difficult topic: what’s the main point I want to make, and how can I help the other person understand it? We can’t really script a conversation, and we need to be open to listening to the other person, but keeping those points in mind helps avoid rabbit trails and side issues (unless of course something comes up in a side issue affecting the main issues).
We’ve likely all been on both sides of those very long stories that meander all over the place. And sometimes that’s totally fine. But other times, I really want someone to just cut to the chase. :) I don’t even enjoy books that describe every little detail.
There are times we have to go into a lot of detail for something to be understood. But there’s also wisdom that says if we can’t explain something to a kindergartener, we don’t really understand it well enough ourselves. That doesn’t work as a blanket statement, but overall, being able to concisely explain something is both a gift and a skill that we can work on. Thanks for sharing such great commentary, Barbara!
I like how those questions get down to the heart or meat of the matter. As I was reading it struck me, like a book, how you should be able to say in one sentence what your lesson is about.
I like the ones that get me thinking!
Exactly, Floyd. I love when a book stays on target to deliver its promise. Sometimes when I’m reading a non-fiction book it will start out being one thing, but then lose its way and end up being about something else entirely. Having a one-sentence mission statement helps everyone stay on the same page (no pun intended). :)
I love practical lists like this! Thanks for sharing, Lisa!
I’m a list-maker from way back, so I am drawn to lists like this too. :) Thanks, Kelly.
Thanks for putting this list together Lisa. Such a helpful, practical tool for sharpening our message.
Thanks, Christine. I’ve been reading a book just this week that stays on target so well. It makes me really appreciate those who have sharpened their message. :) It’s not always easy to do, and it doesn’t come as naturally as we might assume.
It’s so amazing to me how hard it is to stay on point and how those of us leading small groups (like blogs) may not even have a well-defined point. I’ve been working on that lately, so I’ve created an outline to use when writing posts. I’m definitely adding your questions to my outline. Thank you for your ‘sharp point!’ ;-)
Having your own outline for blog posts is great. It always surprises me (but it shouldn’t) that my writing actually goes quicker if I’ll take time to hone my point through outlines and questions BEFORE I start writing. I guess our English teachers were right after all. :)
Very nice points! I think of #3 especially when I am questioning my ability to present (Why me? God chose me to speak: I do have something to say). I should think more of #6, how can I glorify God? Even on a technical subject it should be possible.
Two ideas I use:
– in any presentation, only say one thing. If it’s a two hour lecture it can be a big thing; the one thing can have sections; but everything in the presentation should be part of and build that one thing.
– a version of the “say everything three times” trope: “set it up, lay it out, drive it home.”
Yes, I have to use #3 on myself also. God doesn’t always called the equipped, but He equips the one He calls. :)
Thanks for adding in your two ideas, David. Those are great tips. When presenters try to cram too much material into one presentation, it usually gets so muddled that we gain very little from it. I’m all about keeping it clear and simple.