Below the Surface: Reading the Hearts in Your Group

Leading Small Groups

When a group member dominates discussion, goes quiet, or bristles at everything, there is usually something going on underneath. This course teaches small group leaders the fruit-to-root framework for understanding what drives behavior, and the practice of connecting with a person before correcting them. You will work through four recurring member profiles and decide how to respond to each.

1.5 hours

17 units

3 sections

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What You'll Work Through

Each unit is a conversation, not a page to read. The tutor asks you to explain, apply, and work with the material until it holds.

Chapter 1: Why We Look Beneath the Surface

Section 1.1: Connecting Before Correcting

Proverbs 20:5 grounds drawing out the heart
Connect before correct
The three T's: tone, timing, testimony
A question pricks the conscience but an accusation hardens the heart

Section 1.2: Drawing Out the Heart with W.A.L.K.

W.A.L.K. as a heart-drawing-out framework
Watch nonverbals for incongruence
Ask instead of assuming or presuming
Listen to understand, not to respond

Chapter 2: The Fruit to Root Framework

Section 2.1: The Heart and the Worship Disorder

The heart as the seat of worship (Matthew 6:21)
Sin as a worship disorder, not merely bad behavior
Contributors versus causes: physical factors are not causal

Section 2.2: Mapping Fruit, Trunk, and Root

The three levels of the tree: fruit, trunk, root
Mapping a member's behavior to the fruit level
Tracing fruit down to trunk and root in the four personas

Chapter 3: Four People in Your Group

Section 3.1: The Four Hearts and Their Personas

The Four Hearts as biblical labels for common struggles
Matching each persona to its predominant heart attitude
Reading identical fruit down to different roots