What do you do when you sit down with your Roots Group to start and they are:

• not focused
• look bored to death
• tired
• on their phones
• listening to music on their beats
• fighting or gossiping
• watching youtube on their phones
• braiding each other’s hair
• punching holes in the wall
• farting
• screaming or crying
• and the list can keep going on and on…..and on and on and on…

What do you do? How do you possibly reign them in to have a spiritual conversation? Yes. We know that “all things are possible through Jesus” but getting your group to focus is sometimes a challenge.

Here’s a couple ideas for when your group is not focused:

Set the stage. Communicate to your group that group is starting now. Acknowledge that they are distracted and that’s okay. Request that they give you 15 minutes and that is it. Get all the students to agree that they can focus for 15 minutes. If any of them become disrespectful during the 15 minutes he/she will have to come sit by one of the leaders.
Ask an icebreaker question. After your group has agreed to give you 15 minutes, ask an interactive question. A favorite question we’ve heard is: What is your favorite “appropriate” youtube video. Don’t let your student show you the video on their phones. You as the leader record everyone’s favorite video and tell them you will text them everyone’s favorite video after group in a complied list.

Just using these simple ideas you can get their focus and set your small group time up for success! Don’t forget, the goal isn’t to complete all the questions, the goal is to use the questions to create engaging conversation.