Designing the Meeting: Worship, Teaching, and Small Groups

What You Will Learn

• Describe a weekly meeting format with large-group and small-group time
• Build a teaching calendar around The Restoration Path
• Write small-group guidelines that protect safety and dignity
• Plan for newcomers, facilitation, and safety during meetings

Lesson Notes

A Simple Weekly Format

The early church continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42). Many Christ-centered recovery ministries follow a similar rhythm. One simple format for a two-hour evening:

• Welcome and fellowship (15 min): greeters at the door, a simple snack if allowed, name tags with first names only.
• Large group: worship and teaching (40 min): a few worship songs, an opening prayer, a Scripture reading, and a teaching or testimony on one Restoration Path stage.
• Small groups (50 min): gender-specific groups of about five to ten people, each led by a trained facilitator and co-facilitator.
• Closing (15 min): a short prayer, announcements, and a resource table with the referral list.

Adjust times to your setting. A facility ministry may have only one hour and may not allow music or food; follow the chaplain's direction.

Teaching on The Restoration Path

A teaching calendar keeps the large group moving through the whole path. For example, spend two or three weeks on each of the seven stages, then begin again. Newcomers can join at any time because each stage stands on its own and the path is walked again and again.

Each teaching can follow the same pattern: one stage, one Scripture, one main idea, a short composite story or approved testimony, and one practical next step. Testimonies are reviewed in advance by the ministry leader and follow the testimony guidelines from RML 251: brief about the past, focused on God's work, no glamorizing of drug use or harm, and no naming of other people.

Small-Group Guidelines

Small groups are where people practice honesty and receive prayer. Clear guidelines, read aloud at every meeting, make the group safe. Sample guidelines:

1. Speak about your own experience; use I statements.

2. Keep sharing brief so everyone has time.

3. No fixing, advising, or interrupting. Listen and pray.

4. What is shared here stays here, except when someone may be in danger, a child or vulnerable adult may be harmed, or the law requires a report.

5. No graphic descriptions of drug use, violence, or abuse.

6. Anyone may pass.

7. No dating relationships or business deals among group members while in the group.

8. Offensive language is not used.

Groups are gender-specific to protect safety and openness.

Newcomers, Facilitation, and Safety in the Room

Many newcomers arrive afraid. Train greeters to welcome warmly, explain what will happen, and never pressure anyone to share. Some ministries offer a short newcomers' group that explains The Restoration Path and the guidelines.

Facilitators keep groups on track, protect quieter members, gently redirect, and watch for crisis. Every meeting needs a plan for emergencies: who calls 911, where the first-aid kit is, and who is trained to give naloxone if the church keeps it on site according to local guidance. If someone mentions suicide, the facilitator does not handle it alone: she brings in the leader on duty and helps the person get immediate help, including 988 (call or text). Inside a facility, staff or the chaplain are notified right away.

Key Terms

In-Class Activities

Build the Evening

Using the blank two-hour schedule your instructor provides, design a weekly meeting for your setting. Fill in each time block, who leads it, and what supplies are needed. Then adapt the schedule for a one-hour facility meeting with no music or food.

Guideline Situations

Read six composite small-group situations (for example, a member gives detailed descriptions of past drug use, or two members begin a dating relationship). For each, write which guideline applies and the exact words a facilitator could use to redirect with grace.

Assignment: Meeting Format and Teaching Calendar

Create the meeting section of your Ministry Launch Plan:

• A weekly meeting schedule with times, roles, and supplies.
• A teaching calendar covering all seven Restoration Path stages, with one KJV Scripture for each teaching week.
• Your small-group guidelines (six to eight), including the limits of confidentiality.
• A newcomer welcome plan.
• An in-meeting emergency plan: 911, naloxone if available, 988, and the inside-a-facility procedure.

Graded with the Module Assignment Rubric.

Reflection Journal

First Corinthians 14:40 says all things should be done decently and in order. How can order and structure become a form of love and safety for people who have lived through chaos?

Prayer focus: Ask God to make your meetings places of order, warmth, and truth where every newcomer feels welcomed.

A Room That Feels Safe

The first night Tasha came to a recovery meeting, she did not know what would happen. (Tasha is a composite example.) A greeter met her at the door, gave her a name tag with just her first name, and said, You won't have to share anything tonight unless you want to. Tasha said later that knowing what to expect made it possible to stay.

Let all things be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). Order is a form of love. A simple weekly rhythm (welcome, worship and teaching, small groups, closing) lets people relax because they know what is coming.

The large-group teaching walks through The Restoration Path again and again: Honest Awakening, Hopeful Surrender, Truthful Confession, Freedom Through Forgiveness, Making Things Right, Daily Renewal, and Sharing the Comfort. Newcomers can join any week. Small groups are gender-specific, led by two trained facilitators, and guided by clear rules read aloud every time.

Every meeting also needs a plan for hard moments. Someone knows to call 911. Someone knows where the first-aid kit and naloxone (if kept on site) are. If anyone mentions suicide, the facilitator does not handle it alone: she brings in the leader on duty and helps the person get immediate help, including 988. Inside a facility, staff or the chaplain are told right away.

Think About It

1. What helped you feel safe the first time you joined a group? ______________________
2. Which small-group guideline matters most to you, and why? ______________________
3. How would you welcome someone who is afraid? ______________________

Daily Devotions for Week 3

Decently and in Order

Let all things be done decently and in order.— 1 Corinthians 14:40 (KJV)

Structure helps hurting people feel safe.

Reflect: Where does a little more order bring you peace?

Pray: Lord, make our gatherings orderly and warm.

Do: Sketch a two-hour meeting schedule.

Stedfastly Together

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.— Acts 2:42 (KJV)

The early church grew through teaching, fellowship, and prayer.

Reflect: Which of these do you need most right now?

Pray: Lord, help us continue stedfastly together.

Do: Pray with someone this week.

Receive One Another

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.— Romans 15:7 (KJV)

Christ welcomed us first. We welcome others the same way.

Reflect: Who received you when you did not feel worthy?

Pray: Lord, make me a welcoming presence.

Do: Write a short welcome you could say to a newcomer.

Bear One Another's Burdens

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.— Galatians 6:2 (KJV)

Small groups are where burdens are shared.

Reflect: What burden have others helped you carry?

Pray: Lord, teach me to carry burdens with others, not alone.

Do: Check on someone who is struggling.

Good and Pleasant

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!— Psalm 133:1 (KJV)

Unity is a gift worth protecting.

Reflect: What threatens unity in a group, and how can guidelines protect it?

Pray: Lord, give our groups unity in You.

Do: Write your top three small-group guidelines.