A small group leader guide template you can use this week

By Kyle @ Synodo · Updated 2026-10-13

The short answer: A good leader guide covers four things for each meeting: what to prepare, a run of show with rough times, six to eight open discussion questions, and what to do afterward — kept separate from what members see.

Download the leader guide template (paste into Word or Google Docs)

What goes in a small group leader guide?

Prepare: what to read, watch or buy beforehand, and anything to set up in the room.
Run of show: the shape of the meeting with rough times — welcome, the main discussion, prayer, close — so it ends when it is meant to.
Discussion questions: six to eight, in order, with one or two marked as the ones not to skip.
Afterward: who to follow up with, what to send the group, and what the next meeting needs.

How is a leader guide different from a member guide?

The member guide is what everyone sees: the reading, the questions they can think about ahead of time, and anything to bring. The leader guide is for the people running the meeting: the timings, the background a leader needs to answer a hard question, the note about who to draw in, and the plan B if the conversation goes somewhere else. Keeping them apart lets leaders write honestly — “if this goes long, cut question 5” — without it being read aloud.

How do you write discussion questions that work?

Ask open questions. “What stood out to you?” starts a conversation; “Did you like it?” ends one.
Move from the text to life: what does it say, what does it mean, what difference would it make this week.
Six to eight is plenty for an hour. Most groups get through four or five well.
Put the most important question in the middle, not at the end where time runs out.
Include one question with no right answer, so quieter people can join without being wrong.

How do you turn Sunday’s sermon into a discussion guide?

Work from the sermon notes by Friday, not on the morning of the meeting. Pick the one main idea, the passage it came from, and three or four questions that take people from the passage to their own week. Add a short recap at the top for anyone who missed Sunday. A guide written the same way every week is quicker to write and easier for leaders to run.

How should co-leaders split a meeting?

Give each part of the guide to a named leader — one welcomes and opens, one leads the discussion, one closes in prayer and follows up. Writing the names in the guide settles it before the meeting rather than in the hallway, and it is how a new co-leader learns the job one part at a time.

A filled-in example

Prepare (Ana): read Luke 15; bring the printed questions; set out chairs in a circle by 6:50.
Run of show: 7:00 welcome and catch-up (15 min) · 7:15 read the passage aloud (5) · 7:20 discussion (35) · 7:55 prayer requests and prayer (15) · 8:10 close.
Discussion (Marcus): 1) What did you notice about the father? 2) Which son do you identify with more, and why? 3) Don’t skip: what keeps us from coming home when we have wandered? … 6) Who in your week needs to hear they are welcome back?
Afterward (Ana): text Sam, who missed again; send next week’s reading by Friday.

Doing this in Synodo

In Synodo, every meeting has a Leader Guide that members never see, written once on the church’s study and copied to every group. Leaders can give each section to a co-leader, highlight what they plan to cover, and print it for the table.

See how it works