My Reflection On Leading Small Groups

This course taught me some very valuable skills that I have been able to practice in order to grow as not only a leader, but as a person. I have had past experience with leading small groups because of being a peer mentor, a freshman retreat leader and a kairos leader; however, leading larger groups proved very difficult for me on kairos and when I came back to school fully focused on the year ahead of me rather than the kairos experience that took up a lot of my attention I was able to learn, through faith in action, some skills for leading small groups. Through urban plunge practice, we saw both successful and unsuccessful large group leadership tactics. We both talked it over and put it in to action with each other in order to refine our …show more content…
I was worried people were going to notice every little thing I messed up ,or they were going to not respect me, and many other things but through the support of my peers both in their words and their presence I was able to realize that all of these fears were not realistic and I was able to gain a confidence that I have with other types of leadership and I am now able to command the attention of a group much better than I was previously. Learning this also helped me with my overall life confidence because I realized that if I can be okay to mess up in front of a group of 40 people, I can be myself in my life because it is more successful than being timid and …show more content…
During my urban plunge I went to Tent City and L’Arche; in both of these locations I was able to have conversations with people that resided in these homes. Many of the people in tent city didn’t grow up homeless like I had previously thought and a specific conversation I had was with a woman that went to Blanchet for high school and is now homeless. I found Jesus in this woman because she was not pitying herself, nor was she rude or unappreciative but she was grateful for us and for everything she had experienced. She openly shared everything she had been through and was able to make it a learning experience for us, much like Jesus did for his disciples. This idea was brought back up for me in reflecting on my urban plunge experience two years later, something we rarely get the opportunity to do. I didn’t originally realize that Jesus was there in the people I was serving but it quickly became apparent upon my reflection. Also, at the mass of the urban plunge I led, I heard some of the immediate reflections of the sophomores and was immediately brought to light the presence of Jesus in each and every one of them as well as in the people they were talking about. It often slips my mind that God can be found in all things, including those we often perceive to be below us, but this course really reinforced how much God appears in