Tons of churches provide free sermon-based small group curriculum to their groups every week. Here’s how that usually works:
- Someone at the church gets the notes from their pastor on Thursday, writes discussion questions, finds related passages of Scripture, and compiles a simple curriculum.
- The curriculum (discussion guide) is printed and ready for pickup in the lobby
- AND/OR it is made available on the church website for free download.
Here’s another idea: use YouVersion Live. Churches all across the world are using this free service to make their bulletins available on via smart phone. It’s simple: a church representative signs up at http://www.youversion.com/live and click’s “create an event”. From there they add any information they want. In addition to announcements and sermon notes, you can add survey questions, prayer request boxes, social media tools, online giving and more. And yes, it’s all 100% free…no strings attached!
I was showing this service to a client recently and it hit me: this is a great way to deliver small group curriculum as well! When you “create an event” just upload your discussion content. Group leaders and members who have smart phones can access the content through the free YouVersion Bible App and they’re ready to go. You can even add polls and surveys to each week’s curriculum. All the data will be sent back to you. Imagine getting information back from all your small groups in real time!
YouVersion Live is relevant, powerful, eco friendly, saves money on printing, and it’s free. How else can this tool be used for small groups? You tell me. The sky’s the limit!