1. People. Ideally between four and a dozen people. Any more and it can become anonymous; fewer and energy may drop off. If you have more than a dozen, have more than one group. You will need another leader – this may need planning.
2. Place. Somewhere you won’t be disturbed, warm and comfortable, where everyone can sit facing each other. A Vicarage study. Around a kitchen table. A suitable room or space in Church. A small chapel.
3. Time. I envisage an evening and have given an evening flavour to the prayers so you may want to adapt a bit if a different time works best for your group. Unless you are offering a shared meal, give people time to eat before they come out. Between an hour and 90 minutes is long enough. If that’s sounding like starting at 8, why not?
4. Day. If you’re doing this in Lent or Advent I suggest you meet weekly. I recommend meeting after everyone has had the book for a few days, so there is more to talk about. I assume for now you are going to meet on Wednesdays, so each time you meet you have a week’s worth of reading behind you. If you pick another day, adapt the material.
5. Publicity. Advertise well in advance. I always approach individuals who would benefit from the group and/or make a good contribution. People like to be invited.
6. Book. Everyone needs a copy. Churches sometimes buy several copies and give them away or subsidise them. If people buy the book they may be more likely to show commitment to the course.
7. Initial meeting. I would advise having an informal meeting on Ash Wednesday or the Sunday before, to make sure everyone has a copy of the book, and to tell everyone what you’re going to do.
8. Keeping in touch. I say this with mixed feelings, as I don’t want to encourage the use of social media, but a WhatsApp group might be helpful to remind everyone when you’re meeting and so on. Get everyone signed up at the initial meeting.
9. Refreshments. It’s lovely if you can offer a light meal – small groups thrive on sharing food. Or at least a cup of something delicious. However in Lent you can certainly be forgiven for dispensing with this. It just needs to be thought through in advance, so people know what to expect. It would be a good idea to ask one or two other members of the group to take care of this on the evening, so you as leader have your attention free.
Season of Silence 