A guidebook for

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PWOC AIMS
T.E.A.M. Time
To LEAD women to accept Christ as personal Savior
and Lord. To TEACH women the history, beliefs,
and programs of the church, all built on a solid
foundation of worship and Bible study. To
DEVELOP in women the skills of prayer,
evangelism, stewardship, and social service,
against a background of personal spiritual
development. To INVOLVE women in the work of the
Chapel, in keeping with their abilities and
interests.
A guidebook for Care Group leaders
T.E.A.M. time is a program specifically
tailored for Care Group Leaders within Protestant
Women of the Chapel. It encompasses four areas
of development Ttraining Eencourage Aapprec
iate Mmotivate
Protestant Women of the Chapel
Multiple PWOC contributors Compiled by Kathy
Duttweiler
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What is a care group?
Resources for Leading Small Groups
The military lifestyle is transient. People
come and people go and many people have a deep
desire to be a part but dont know where or how
to begin. They need a caring hand to draw them
in. Every person has a need to be valued and
included. Care-groups are based on Hebrews
1024, And let us consider how we may spur
(encourage) one another on toward love and good
deeds Here is an aspect of encouragement and of
service. Its purpose is to ensure that every
woman feels a part of PWOC through the ministry
of encouragement, prayer, and compassion. The
desire is that the group move beyond organization
to strengthening fellowship. Women will grow in
their relationship with Jesus by experiencing His
love in the care-group. One of the reasons
small groups are so effective is because when
people are face-to-face, they can discuss and
process information instead of merely listening
passively. Gods truths are transforming only to
the extent they are received and absorbed. Just
as uneaten food cannot nourish, truth out there
either in a book or spoken by a teachercannot
make a difference if it is undigested. Even if it
is bitten off and chewed, it must be swallowed
and made part of each cell to truly give life.
Your care group Bible study is not a
correspondence course. Its a personal and group
experience designed to help believers find a
biblical approach to their spiritual lives that
really works. The care-group is first and
foremost a Bible study. Gods Word is alive and
powerful and it is through the study of the Bible
that lives are changed however, one of the aims
of PWOC is to equip women for service. Each
individual brings to the group unique gifts and
talents that can be used to strengthen the body.
It is within the care-group that these talents
may be recognized, nurtured and developed.
Through prayer, the sharing of concerns, and the
ministry of care and encouragement, lives will be
blessed. Adapted from Resource Guide for Womens
Ministries
Lead Out, a guide for leading Bible discussion
groups. NavPress 1975. Resource Guide for
Womens Ministries, Linda R McGinn. Broadman
Press, 1990. Leading Women to the Heart of God.
Lysa TerKeurst. Moody Press, 2002. Gifts-the
Joy of Serving God. Ortberg, Pederson, Poling.
Willow Creek Resources, 2000 Release Your
Potential by Elizabeth Inrig Five Leadership
Essentials for Women by Linda Clark Jennifer
Rothschilds Womens Ministry website
www.womensministry.net, weekly updates and tips
for running an effective womens
ministry Leadership Magazine website
www.leadershipjournal.net Weekly magazine
published online by Christianity Today. Includes
numerous articles and guidelines for being a
Christian leader.
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T.E.A.M. Time Training Notes
What Do You Reflect?
A Checklist for Care Group Leaders

• To maintain a right relationship with
• God through the study of His Word, prayer and
  regular church attendance
• To use her spiritual gifts (teaching,
  encouraging, discernment) for the purpose and
  needs that God will show her within the group
• To be scripturally prepared to facilitate and/or
  teach the lesson
• To facilitate the discussion of the lesson
  material ensuring that the discussion stays
  within the context of the study and that God is
  glorified.
• To maintain a group atmosphere that allows each
  woman who attends the group to feel loved and
  accepted regardless of race, nationality,
  denomination, etc.
• To build up and encourage the women in your
  group providing accountability within the group
  by allowing the women to share burdens, goals,
  faultsand through prayer and encouragement, to
  help one another grow in Christ.
• To get to know the women in the group and provide
  additional support and encouragement through
  outside-class contact (telephone calls, e-mails,
  fellowship time)
• To pray faithfully for the women in your group
• To make the necessary arrangements for the timely
  handling of any special projects or
  administrative needs within your group (love
  meals, class rosters, class social)

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Semester Schedule Fall 2007 (example)
Overcome the need to be PERFECT
You may have accepted Gods call to lead a Care
Group but still harbor doubt that you arent
good enough as a Christian and teacher. The
best Care Group Leaders are those who are
transparent. This transparency allows you to
openly recognize your own faults with the
knowledge that God has redeemed you and is
working a new life deep within. Your desire to
share Christ and disciple women is your primary
goal. By setting aside the worry about being
perfect, youll create an atmosphere ready for
true growth.
Week 1 Fall Kick Off Week 2 Introductory
Week Week 3 Care Group 1 Week 4 Care Group
2 Week 5 Care Group 3 Week 6 Care Group
4 Week 7 Care Group 5 Week 8 Program Week 9
Care Group 6 Week 10 Care Group 7 Week
11 Care Group 8 Week 12 Care Group 9 Week
13 NO PWOC Week 14 Care Group 10 Week 15 Care
Group 11 Week 16 Care Group 12 Week 17 Program
Sharing Yourself While Sharing Your Gift
There are small group leaders who simply lead
their group through the session, respond to
questions, say a prayer, and go home. And then
there are leaders who impart themselvestheir
failures, successes, heartaches, their own
spiritual journeys. They share part of their
soul, nurturing the group down the path to growth
and to becoming family. What do you do? Do you
just share your gift, or do you share your gift
and share yourself? Do you fill a serving role or
do you impart your life? Gifts-The Joy of
Serving God, pg 34
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So Much to DoSo Little Time
PWOC Morning Schedule (example) 930-1015
Opening Session 1015-1030
Refreshments 1030-1145 Care Groups
You may have to adapt the material because of
time considerations. It is very hard to discuss
every topic in a given session in detail. You
may also only have a limited time because of the
nature of your group. The purpose isnt to cover
every question exhaustively, but to get the main
point across in each session. Think of the
Primary Focus of the weeks study and what you
want the women to Take Away with them for the
coming week. All small groups need a leader.
While it is easy to see that a group discussion
would get off track without a facilitator, you
also hold an appointment from God. Your Bible
study series is about spiritual growthabout
Christ being formed in each of us. One of the
greatest gifts you can give another person is to
pay attention to his or her spiritual life. As a
leader, you will serve your group members by
observing their lives and trying to hear, in the
questions they ask and the answers they give,
where they are in their spiritual development.
Your observations are an invaluable contribution
to their spiritual progress. That attention,
prayer, and insight is an extremely rare giftbut
it is revolutionary for those blessed enough to
have such a person in their lives. You are that
person. You give that gift. You can bring that
blessing. People need clarity about spirituality.
Gifts-The Joy of Serving God, pg 132

• Bible Studies begin at 1015am and finish at
  1130am. Begin and end on time.
• Care Group Leaders are responsible for the
  set-up of her own meeting area.
• Care Group Leaders are encouraged to make their
  meeting space as warm and inviting as possible.
  Please feel free to use quilts, table linens,
  candles, candy, chocolates, etc. to let the
  ladies in your Care Group know their time with
  you is special. NOTE Do not leave lit candles
  unattended.
• Following each meeting, ask your Care Group
  ladies to help you
• 1. Put room back to standard arrangement.
• 2. Erase all chalk and dry erase boards.
• 3. Remove trash.
• 4. Vacuum if needed.

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Nuts-n-Bolts of an Effective Care Group Leader
Care Group Leader Roster (example)

• The most exciting outcome of your care group is
  not the development of your ability to leadit is
  that Gods Word is being studied, discussed, and
  applied. God is using each discussion you lead
  to proclaim His Word. Your goal is for lives to
  be changed!
• Do your homework - this seems like it should be a
  given, but you cannot teach what you do not know.
• Start and end on time - dont wait until
  everyone is there to begin. The stragglers will
  catch on that your time together is valuable and
  most will learn to make it on time.
• Enrich the discussion with outside sources - try
  to find books, stories, or articles that relate
  to the
• weekly lesson.
• Use good study tools - it is important to dig
  deep into Gods Word. Use tools like a
  concordance, dictionary, commentaries, and if
  possible, Hebrew and Greek word study books
  borrow them if you do not own any.
• Learn how to deal with different personality
  types - It takes a little bit of know how to draw
  out the quiet members and guide the discussion
  back on track when someone takes it on a rabbit
  trail.
• Leave your pride at the door - it is easy for a
  leader to base her sense of worth on how
  successful the Care Group is. The leader with two
  women in her study is just as accountable before
  the Lord as the leader who has two hundred.
  www.womensministries.net

Bible Study 1 Care Group Leader Bible Study
2 Care Group Leader Bible Study 3 Care Group
Leader Bible Study 4 Care Group Leader Bible
Study 5 Care Group Leader Bible Study 6 Care
Group Leader Bible Study 7 Care Group
Leader Bible Study 8 Care Group Leader
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Ways to Pray with your Group
Potential Pitfalls
Controlling Talkers Calling on others in the
group can help. What do the rest of you think?
You can also call on specific people that you
are sure wouldnt mind. Sit next to chronic
talkers less eye contact from you will help
curb their answers. Handling silence If you
give people time to think, they will ask good
questions as the discussion continues. Be
patient and the silence will break. Drawing in
quiet members - Directly aim a question toward
those who have not yet shared. You must allow
them the time and silence they need to answer a
question. Encourage them by saying, Take a
moment to think. I know you can answer
this. Keeping on track Recognize the need
verbally. This is interesting. However weve
left our topic. Perhaps we could discuss this
further after we finish our topic. Or suggest
tabling the idea until after the study, when
those who want to discuss further,
can. Handling wrong answers Never tell a person
she is wrong. Try directing the question to
others in the group. For example, Okay, what
do others think? or Has anyone some other
Scripture which may help us here? Restate your
original question, if necessary to clarify or
stimulate further thought. Always keep others
from getting embarrassed by a wrong
answer. Handling Controversial subjects Dont try
to smother honest questions in order to avoid
controversy. Denominational issues should be
kept to a minimum. Encourage your group to
seek additional information from a
chaplain/minister. Handling Difficult
Questions Its okay to say, I dont know. Rely
on others in the group. Be willing to research
questions later, if necessary. Keep in mind
that a good Bible study will stimulate more
questions that answers. Encouraging
Application Remember this is the purpose of the
Word of God. Ask effective application questions.
What does this mean to you? or Is there
anything you can do about this today? Learn how
to share your own applications with honesty and
humility. Openness on your part will create
openness on theirs.
Sign-In Prayer Requests If your time is limited,
a sign-in system can help the group spend less
time explaining prayer needs and more time
praying. Have a sheet of paper ready and ask
people to write down their requests as they
arrive or before the meeting begins. During
prayer time, read each item aloud and ask someone
to pray about it. Prayer Shuffle A variation on
the sign-in sheet is to have members note
requests on index cards. If you have many needs
to pray for, divide into groups of three. Shuffle
the cards and hand out a few to each
group. Community Concerns Clip articles from you
newspaper about local issues or people who have
specific needs. Use the clippings as a basis for
intercession either with the group as a whole or
in pairs. Pair Up Assign prayer partners for a
month (draw names out of a hat, etc.). When Mary
shares a request, she knows her prayer partner
for the month, Amy, will be praying for her in
the days ahead. Prayer Card Exchange Give
everyone an index card to write down their prayer
concerns for the week and have them exchange
cards with another member of the group. For the
following week you will pray for the specific
requests on your card. Calendar Prayer At the
beginning of the month, pass around a master
calendar on which group members can write down
important events (birthdays, anniversaries,
tests, doctor appointments, etc.). Make copies of
the calendars for everyone in the group so they
can pray for these events on the appropriate day.
Teachers could also ask the students to write
down their names on any day of the month and the
teacher could remember to pray for them by name
on the assigned day in her own personal quiet
time.
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Are there any questions

• Guidelines for questions Continued
• Listen attentively. Maintain eye contact with
  the person
• Use caution in asking direct questions
• Direct What do you think, Mary?
• Indirect What does the Bible say about this?

You, as a leader, will be asking questions based
on the weekly study, but not necessarily
following the way the questions are presented in
the study or your leaders guide. Base your
sessions on the needs of individual members of
your group. Remember it is acceptable that you
dont cover all the material provided each week.
Additionally, there may be a few times when the
material is so relevant to your group members
that every question seems to fit. Dont feel bad
about taking two weeks on a session. The purpose
of your study is life-change in women, not timely
book completion!

• Asking Questions
• Observation questions
• Ask What does the passage say?
• Aim at the basic content of the section
• Interpretation questions
• Ask What does the verse mean?
• Serve as follow up to observations
• Help to understand more fully what is being said
• Correlation questions
• Ask How do these verses or ideas relate to each
  other?
• Ask How does this verse relate to the rest of the
  Bible?
• Help tie separate ideas into a usable whole
• Aid in aiming discussion in a particular direction

• Guidelines for questions
• Good questions are clear, relevant and stimulate
  discussion
• Use open-ended questions what why and how
• Use questions that deal with feelings as well as
  facts.
• Facts tell what a person knows
• Feelings tell how she really feels about it
• Be prepared to wait for an answer
• People need time to formulate their answers
• Some questions may need restating
• People may not be able to clearly communicate on
  their first attempt. It is common for people to
  think of what they should have said. Be alert to
  this and ask, Do you have any more thought on
  that? or Would you like to add anything else?

• Application questions
• Ask What does God want you to do about this?
• Draw out specific acts or attitudes which the
  passage implies or commands
• Transfer the study from the head to the heart
  Should be emphasized throughout the Bible study,
  not just at the end

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Multiple PWOC contributors Compiled by Kathy
Duttweiler