A WORD FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR WAC Small Group Newsletter October 2010 A number of you have thanked me for this newsletter and the information in it. Thank you for the feedback! Please take what you learn here and share it with your Small Group. As leaders in our congregation you are able to communicate with others about the exciting things God is doing among us. And if you have stories of God sightings in your group, please pass those back to me. Nothing is more thrilling or encouraging than seeing God at work! I have been getting requests from people in our congregation who want to join a small group. Yea! I also know there are people who would love to join a group, but are waiting to be asked. This may be someone sitting next to you Sunday mornings or may be your neighbor who doesn t even come to church! If you are wondering if a small group is really the place for a seeker, take a look at the article at the end of this newsletter. It may give you something to think about. SMALL GROUP LEADER TRAINING We had 53 people at the September 11 th Small Group Leader Training. What a great morning where we saw God moving our vision of ministry forward and people becoming better prepared for the Holy work we have been called to! Our next training will be winter quarter. We will mix things up a bit and follow a different format. The theme will center around increasing authenticity in our small groups. I have posted a number of the handouts from the Leader Training on the church website. (wachurch.us, look under the ministry tab for Small Groups ) You will find a link to the materials Phil taught on how to help people begin their Christian walk as well as the forms to do a 2PROAPT study and the GOSPEL pneumonic for remembering the elements of leading someone to new life in Christ that Ronnie presented. A WORD FROM THE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL The Leadership Council met twice since the last small groups newsletter was published. At both meetings the major topic of conversation was realigning some of the roles for members of the Council to better utilize resources. With our small group ministry being a major focus of our church, it has been determined that Craig McCollum should join Amy Anderson in concentrating on the area of discipleship. Craig will continue to provide overall leadership for our Prepare efforts, but it was recognized that each area should be providing training on an on-going basis. For the Hello! team, recruitment is underway to shore up our teams of ushers and greeters. This dedicated group of folks is doing a wonderful job, but we need more people to participate. The primary accomplishment of the Connect ministry has been the advent of The Information U in the lobby. This is a way to provide information both to newcomers and also to people in our congregation who are looking for additional ways to connect and serve. The Go! position on the Council is currently vacant and Leadership Council has asked the nominating committee to work toward filling this vacancy as soon as possible.
Updates were provided by ministry staff members present at the meeting, including stories of new believers, lives being changed in our student ministries and opportunities which are starting for children to learn more about Jesus and fellowship together. RESOURCE CORNER Review of 13 Very Bad Days and How God Fixed Them" by Mikal Keefer Our home group has always included young children and one of the challenges is what to do with them while the adults meet. In the past we have done memory verses, crafts and movies. But since we have a wide range of ages (0-12) and our oldest children are no longer interested in the Veggie Tales movies and the like, we decided we wanted to do more with the kids while keeping the older ones engaged. Laura recommended to us a resource that the church has available called "13 Very Bad Days and How God Fixed Them" by Mikal Keefer. This last Sunday we used it for the first time to teach lesson 1 called "Noah's Bad Day". We found the lesson material to be very simple to use and filled with fun things for the kids to do. Although this material could be used in a Sunday School class, it was designed for small groups in mind. The materials needed to teach the lessons are easy to find and inexpensive. For example the first lesson required pencils, poster, 10 index cards per child, Bibles and paper. There were game suggestions and a very clearly defined point for each lesson. We have chosen to make a different adult responsible each week for the lesson and they include the "helper" which is the oldest child in the preparation and planning for the meeting. If you are looking for a resource to teach the kids in your home group some Bible and Christian values, I would recommend "13 Very Bad Days and How God Fixed Them". It is available on Amazon.com for $10 and we purchased two copies so that our "helper" could have a copy and we could pass around the other copy to the adults that are responsible for the weekly lesson. Jon Ronning Christ Follower, Husband, Father, Sunday School Teacher, Home Group Leader, Soccer Coach, Project Manager, Juggler. (Note: There is a copy of this book in the Small Groups Library if you want to look through it before ordering. L.D.) SERVICE CORNER I will be contacting small group leaders and service coordinators about this by separate e-mail, but it would be great if groups could start talking about how they would like to participate together with the annual all-church Dessert Theater in December. Performances will be Friday, December 10 at 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, December 11 at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.; and Sunday, December 12 at 4:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity for small groups to work together to serve the community and our church body. Proceeds from this event will benefit Hopelink which provides a variety of social services to needy people in our local community. How can you and your group help? Setup Crew Ushers Greeters Clean Up/Tear Down Crew Consider planning a small group outing to come to see the performance of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and serve together at the same time.
Another big area of need is someone, or a group of someones, with special expertise to work on promoting this event. This would include local promotion in the community, someone to make sure the word is out for our congregation and someone to do on-line promotion. If you and/or your small group has some marketing geniuses, please contact me or Pastor Brandon. Blessings, Jan Higbee Momentum Advisor DATES TO REMEMBER! October 6 th, 6:00-7:30 Sponsors of Home Groups Meeting (Sponsors of Table Groups are also welcome!) December 10 th, 11 th, 12 th Dessert Theater. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I welcome your input. In service to Jesus, Laura Donelson, WAC Small Group Administrator smallgroups@wachurch.us or 425-483-1599 The following is located at: http://smallgroups.com/articles/2008/discipleshipnewevangelism.html Discipleship: The New Evangelism Are these two important elements of the church trending together? Michael Kelley posted 12/15/2008 The Roman's Road. FAITH. The Four Spiritual Laws. The bridge illustration. These are all names of good, useful tools for evangelism and I'm sure you can add to the list. The goal of each is to introduce someone to a relationship with Jesus Christ in a simple, straightforward way. And they have worked well. Really, really well. The question is not whether they have worked, but are these the best models for evangelism in today's culture? That Was Then It's worth asking the question because the times, they are a-changin'. The postmodern mindset is one of exploration, journeying, and mystery. It craves depth in all aspects of
life whether in relationships, experiences, or faith. Given this shift in our culture, is there a new way to engage in evangelism that connects specifically to this new kind of mindset? It's also worth asking the question because, back when we were doing the research project that would eventually lead to the formation of Threads, a question was asked to those both inside and outside of churches, both believers and non-believers. The question was simple, but has big implications: Does the idea of a deeper Bible study interest you or discourage you? Before we talk about the answer, consider some of the assumptions that led to the seeker-sensitive model of church that was visible throughout the country just 20 years ago. The assumption was that people needed to be introduced to the concept of faith at a church. So, any attempt to go too deep would inevitably scare people off. They were, after all, just "seekers" those coming to try out religion and faith and see what it's all about. The goal was simply to get them to come back again, and then eventually move them from that introductory phase into a real discipleship phase. That, too, was effective. At least it was back then. This Is Now But now? The answer to the little question we asked revealed that an overwhelming number of believers wanted depth in their times of study. It showed a dissatisfaction with easy and pat answers, and a desire to really study and wrestle with God's Word and its implications for life. The surprising thing was that the number of non-christian respondents was nearly identical to the number of Christian respondents in terms of who wanted that depth. Both non-christians and Christians wanted depth in Bible study. Really? Really. I think that means a lot of things. I think it means that people are out there looking for real answers, not easy ones. I think people want to see that men and women of faith struggle with questions, too. And I think it means people are looking for a belief system that actually has something to say. I think it also means that people are looking for a belief system that demands something. They're looking for something challenging. They're looking for something
that will engage their whole person body, mind, and spirit. I think they're saying that they don't want Christians to try and "back-door" the gospel to them. Say what it is and be upfront about it. It's a complete life commitment, and something worth giving your whole life toward. That sounds a lot like discipleship to me. Could it be that evangelism and discipleship are trending together in the future? That's not to minimize the need for the moment of truth, when a person steps from being an unbeliever to believer because there is still the profound need for that. But maybe it does beg the question as to whether we need to have "seeker-sensitive" worship experiences and groups. Or is the best evangelism to show people the gospel lived out and engaged in worship and study? Michael Kelley serves as an editor for Threads, LifeWay's Young Adult series. He travels throughout the year speaking to students and young adults, and blogs daily at michaelkelleyministries.com. Michael Kelley; copyright 2008 by the author and LifeWay Publishers. Used with permission.