The best candidates for this role, and the preparation for being a leader is having been a member of an Avenue group for women. While that's not a criteria, a conversation with a Leader Coach is always the starting point to help determine your readiness to take on this role.

Every leader had a first group. The Coach helps to make the determination if you're ready for your first group. If you have a heart for the women dealing with this, if you've worked on issues in your own life, that's a great start. Our Leader Guide gives you many tools to help you facilitate your meetings. It can feel intimidating in the beginning,  but you'll find that you don't shoulder the weight of the group time. Members are in the group to share, and they do! And you're not alone. Your Coach is there every step of the way to help you facilitate your group well.

If you've got more questions about this, contact a Women's Leader Coach now, by clicking on one of the 'Contact Leader Coach' buttons to connect by email, then phone if you want.

Great question. If you're serious about having a place of restoration for women, you'll take full advantage of the benefits we've created for leaders. These aren't bells and whistles that just sound good. They do good. We know from 20 years of experience. Here's what registering your group provides you, as the leader:

1. A Coach for your group- to help you along the whole journey of the group. When you have a problem, you're not stuck in isolation, you call, text, email, your Coach and talk about the situation.
2. A Coach for you-That same Coach is concerned about your welfare just as much. Each Coach has been a group leader. Sometimes it's forgotten that leaders need help for themselves. This is for that.
3. Community- We have an online Community for Leaders, called Leader's Central. Leader's can collaborate, share ideas, problem solve together. In the Community you'll find newbies to seasoned leaders, all supporting each other.
4. Online Directory-Your group is listed in our online directory. This is a benefit for every type of group setting and host. People in need can find us /your group through a web search. If you're an independent group, this is far more effective than trying to advertise your own group. For a church, this expands the ability to outreach to the community. Because it's a sad thing to have a great group available and very few find it.

Even if you are months away from actual start-up, it’s not too early to register your group. You can get started now to prepare for running your group. At this stage, you’ll have questions. It’s a perfect time to talk with a Coach. Buy your Leader’s Guide and start reading to acquaint yourself with the details of starting and then facilitating your group.

There are several meeting styles that you can choose from. The constant is to keep the groups small for true connection and confidentiality, about 10 members per group.

Local - a local group meets in person. Most local groups are created by churches, both for their congregation and the surrounding community to attend.

Phone - a phone group uses a conference call feature to bring all members together by phone.

Online - an online group uses computer technology to create a visual conference call. All members can see each other live on the computer screen, more like a local group.

The full course for the women’s group is 26 weeks. Having continuity in leadership and attendance is essential.  Be certain you can make this commitment before starting a group. Once you have your group running, you may be able to identify other people within the group to act as a co-facilitator. and to carry out other roles. This process is fully explained in your Leader's Guide

You'll need to get your church's approval to start a group which they host. The first step would be to approach your women's small groups ministry leader. Explain your interest, and desire to facilitate the group. It would be helpful to show her our website pulled up on your phone, or have a printed page to bring with you. If she says yes, you can offer to start the registration process and Coach training with us. Our Leader's Guide gives you directives to check with your church on matters of their protocol, because it supersedes our best practices.

If the church wants to gather more information, be sure to give them our web address.

If you get a negative response, ask if you can have use of a room weekly, to host a group. If that is met negatively, that's not the end of the road. You can have an independent phone or online group. The Start A Group  registration form begins that process too.

The process for an individual to start a group is the same way we proceed for an organization. You do the 3 things noted above this Q & A: Register, Get Your Guidebook, and Get Coached. When you register, the other two fall into place.

Leader Coaching does not cost the leader anything, but it is very valuable help you provide a safe, healing group

Our Coach’s have years of experience running healthy Avenue groups. We expect leaders to stay connected with the Coaches for the duration of your group, which will help you with your questions, determine readiness for moving forward, start up, staying on course, uncertainties, unexpected issues, and  personal concerns. It's for your benefit, for your needs and health as a leader and the overall heath of your group..

The Leader’s Guide is the blueprint for how groups are formed and function. Packed with practically every bit of information you will ever need to keep your group healthy. A leader should read through the Leader’s Guide for preparation, then follow the step-by-step guide to starting your group. The Leader's Guide is a reference tool for the duration of your group, to find answers to situations and questions as they arise.

If you are starting the group in a church, first find out it they can easily set up a separate email for Avenue. If that isn't your case, for the email, we suggest that you get a separate email account just for your group, using any free email service. We suggest using wording that identifies the group, rather than using your name, such as avenuewomen@yahoo.com, or avenuespringfieldgroup@gmail.com
If you don’t want to use your own phone number, you can get a free  phone number  through google.

The fields that are required to be filled are things you know or create. If you're undecided on an item, like your group name, you can choose something, but then edit it later. Many fields can be left blank until you've decided, such as start date etc. You will be able to edit your information yourself.

You have complete controI on the decision for who attends your group. Our Avenue Groups Directory does not publish the street address of the group location. It only provides the city and state. An inquiry must contact you as a first step, so no one will show up at a meeting prior to you having a phone conversation/screening if you choose. If a church is hosting your group, we have suggestions for the same precautions in our Leader Guide. The Leader Guide gives you questions to ask to determine if your group is an appropriate for the inquirer.

You have complete controI on the decision for who attends your group. An inquiry must contact you as a first step. You may have an email exchange or a phone conversation. When you've determined to accept their member request, you'll provide them the access code for your meeting.

While it’s not possible to know how many inquiries will go to a specific group, you have control over dealing with more inquiries than you can provide space for. If you have maxed out your group capacity, you can make a status change on your group listing, to indicate that you are not able to take any new members until further notice.

Your group profile has fields for the day and time of your meetings, which minimizes receiving inquiries from people that it won't work for.