Chair Person in Caregroup

One year ago, I wrote a description on the role of a chairperson in small group discussion. Here it is....

Taking note of the chairperson on Sunday service, you will notice how the chair person keeps watch of the time and moves "items" such as testimony, announcements, communion, prayers, and welcomes for dinner in a short and clear way. The chair person needs to makes sure people who are on duty know their roles and are prepared. And that everyone is comfortable and the environment is conducive for Holy Spirit to act upon. Importantly the role of a chairperson represents the church and directs the church members according to the holy spirit.

Similarly, the chair person in caregroup welcomes the members and visitors with excitement and joy. If a visitor comes, the chairperson should get to know them and introduce visitor to the group. Chairperson normally guides "discussion items" during the course of the night and control the time and "content" in a way. Some people like to talk very long and far off from subject so chairperson needs to know when to step in and take control of conversation again in a polite way. Hm, another thing is, chairperson writes the weekly email to send out to visitors and members to inform them where the meeting place is and what time and a word of encouragement during the week, hopefully it is written early in week, so that people are prepared and they can encourage to invite their friends to caregroup, so that one more soul is saved!


Young Professional time format:
6:30-6:45 We know people are sometimes late so allow some buffer time, chairperson welcomes and introduces new visitors. This is a time that he/she connects visitors to members so that they know each other and exchange contacts later on.
6:45-7:30 Dinner time is when chairperson plays host, prays over meal and entertain people with light discussion, and ask people about their week.
7:30-7:40 Games can be nominated by chairperson to someone else to take responsibility (sometimes dont need game, its just ice breaker)
7:40-8:00 Praise and worship, can share a word of encouragement during this time, end with prayer and ask people to take a seat.
8:00-8:05 communion nominated again by chair person who he/she can do it.
8:05-8:20 chairperson ask if people have testimony or word of encouragement, normally chairperson would ask someone the week before to prepare some sharing.
8:20-8:30 Updates and announcement and some buffer time here
8:30-9:30 Hand over to discussion leader gracefully

This is a rough guideline that the chairperson needs to keep in mind and not be to rigid on but to ensure that it does not go over time as some may work the next day or may be late to go home. It is up to chairperson to deem what is appropriate to do as he is the person organizing how small group discussion will be ran.

Keep in mind that the role of chairperson in caregroup is more a transparent role, that is let the people who are in charge of e.g. worship, games, connect journal know when to start and end (dont have to be formal and say "this is the time for worship", or this is time for games, can just give them a signal). Normally during worship chair-person may share Gods word if God speaks to them. In church, not everyone is able to share in front of the church, so the chair person will act as filter, as in do not let some stranger speak and distort the truth to the rest of the members. (in cg however, most are members, so as long as the word is encouraging its good). Re-affirm person who shares a word of God if its appropriate.

Some note to take:
- prepare your heart days in advance so that Holy Spirit can work through us. This may be asking forgiveness, getting into the word of God, and praying
-Have a clear time format and make sure that everyone knows their roles before the meeting
-Chair person can add and remove parts of the format depending on time and people at present

That is all from the top of my head. So yeah if you have any questions, let me know :)