Coach burnout is typical, but one way to avoid this is by placing another coach alongside her. Working with another coach from the same area is always beneficial, whether it's women's, men's, couples, singles, or a geographic or support group. This way she wouldn't be doing it alone.

This also allows each co-coach to take breaks. For instance, when one is on vacation, the co-leader can take over. When the load gets bigger, instead of having one person over 3-5 groups, you might have two people over 10-15. The key is that they share the role and burden of coaching.

One way to do this is by having the hosts stand up during the last Sunday in which you promote the new small group campaign. Ask members if they see someone they'd enjoy getting to know for six weeks, and encourage them to sign up with those people. Remember, if you do this too soon, you'll lose the opportunity for more hosts and members to create their circles.

One way to make prayer a stress-free, worshipful time is to spend less time on prayer requests and more time on prayer.

One simple way to do this is to have each person share prayer requests as you pray. It shortens the time and gives more people a chance to pray for the request. Another way to make your prayer time more meaningful is to have one person briefly share a request, and then assign somebody to pray immediately for that person.

You can also focus your prayer time by having individuals write their requests on a card. Place them in the center of the table and have everyone grab one of the requests and pray for it. Believe God has appointed who is going to get prayed for and by whom.

One of the most powerful things you can do with your small group is attend church together. Decide together what service you'll attend, and go together for the duration of your six-week study. It's a way to connect on a deeper level. When you sit in community, you don't feel alone and, consequently, experience worship differently. Go to lunch afterwards and spend time fellowshipping and talking about the sermon.

Identify some people in your church or neighborhood who live alone and have few friends—the offbeat person, the single mother whose boyfriend recently left her, the man getting off of drugs. Consider ways you could serve or offer hospitality to one or more of these people. Pray for God to reveal to you who he wants you to serve.

On your own you may be reluctant to get involved. However, with a partner, you could invite that person over for coffee or dinner.