Snacks or a Meal at Small Group?

3 Important Questions to Ask

When groups meet they eat. This is a common practice in group life and has been since the church was birthed (Acts 2:46). I’m often asked, “Should a group do a full meal or just have some snacks?” In order to make this decision, the following questions will be helpful to consider:

1. Do those who will do the cooking have time to cook before coming to the meeting without being exhausted when they get to the meeting? If your group is made up of people who work full-time jobs and would have to rush home and cook before arrival at the meeting, do snacks.
2. How long is your meeting time? If the meeting time is an hour and a half or less, trying to do a full meal will be nearly impossible.
3. How many people are in the group? If the group is made up of 12 adults and an additional 15 kids, doing a full meal may be difficult to coordinate. Seating alone may make a full meal impossible.

Rick Howerton has one passion — to see “a biblical small group within walking distance of every person on the planet making disciples that make disciples.” He is pursuing this passion as the small group and discipleship specialist at Lifeway Church Resources.