Leadership Ministries provides curriculum for our Leadership Tables. The Table Leader can use this to guide their time of leadership study and discussion. The curriculum is designed to be simple, short, and easy to use, to minimize the amount of preparation required by the Table Leader. Each lesson is composed of three pages.
Lesson summary. This is a short leadership lesson from the Bible, contained to one page, and referencing several applicable Scriptures. We use a “Bible first” approach to study, meaning we don’t choose a topic and then look for Bible verses to support it. Rather, we choose a Scripture passage and then look for the leadership lessons contained therein. For this reason, many of our lesson series go through books of the Bible from beginning to end, or pick a spiritual discipline like prayer or conflict resolution or finding direction for life and work.
The lesson summary is meant to compliment our weekly leadership talk, provided online as a short video and/or audio message. The Table Leader may use the lesson to help him prepare for the table discussion. Or in lieu of using a leadership talk, he might share thoughts from the lesson on his own. Many of our leadership speakers use the lesson page to help them prepare their talk.
Discussion guide. The second page of each lesson contains a discussion guide for the Leadership Table using our “Learn, Live, Lead” format. That is, we Learn about and from one another, we Live according to the Scriptures, and these cause us to Lead with intention.
Learn questions are “ice breakers”, designed to get the group talking about themselves. You can use any of these, or come up with your own. We also have a downloadable list of “generic” ice breaker questions on our website. We attempt to make the question somewhat light, but relatable to the subject at hand. Every man should be able to participate in this—in fact, the Table Leader should encourage each man to answer a Learn question.
Live questions are in the format of “read then answer”. We always point men to the Scriptures to find answers. Further, we find it healthy that men discuss what the Bible says on a topic. It’s okay in this phase to find disagreement, questions, other viewpoints. Not all questions we posit from the Bible have easy answers. There are more questions provided than you will have time to use, so the Table Leader can choose one or more than he thinks will resonate with the table. These questions are not exhaustive—if the discussion takes a turn in a different direction that is helpful and relevant, the Table Leader can go with it, and ask other questions not on the page.
Lead items are designed to give the leader a next-step for the week. We want men to at least ask the question of themselves, “What will I do Monday morning as a result of what we have talked about today?” It’s important to touch on how men will follow up on the discussion, as this is a key facet of leadership developing—putting into action what they are learning from the Scriptures.
Resources. Finally, our lessons provide a list of additional resources and suggestions that expand on the lesson topic. Typically these are articles accessible online, books and other study guides that can be purchased or downloaded, online links to Leadership Ministries helps, and then a list of “To Dos” related to the topic. For instance, if the lesson is on conflict resolution, there may be articles on Matthew 18, or how to contact a Christian mediator or arbitrator, or a series or book on conflict resolution you can access online.
Resources are provided for those who might want to take a concrete step following a Leadership Table discussion. If the lesson resonates with one or two men, they can find these resources helpful.
Our goal in providing curriculum is to infuse certain ideas into your time at the table. We always ask questions around the ideas of manhood and leadership. We can talk about many facets of life and work at a Leadership Table, but we want to make sure we don’t loose track with our core mission of building godly leaders. If a participant is not growing as a man and as a leader, he will eventually leave the group. Or, if we don’t stick to our core topics, the table will become just another Bible study or support group, and fail to achieve it's purpose.
LEADERSHIP TABLE SERIES
Click on a series below to access audio, video and lesson (discussion) guides.
Leadership Ministries provides curriculum for our Leadership Tables. The curriculum is designed to be simple, short, and easy to use, to minimize the amount of preparation required by the Table Leader.