Dear Small Group Leaders of Christ Church,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I hope you all have enjoyed a break from leading the weekly meetings and are rested up for a new exciting fall season at Christ Church! Personally, I have been busy with my doctoral program in discipleship and outreach with the study and residency experiences in Seoul, South Korea and Singapore. I have attached a pdf page of a few pictures from the trip if you would like to see them. I believe the insights and experiences gained through this program will prove to be extremely valuable in shaping the discipleship programs of Christ Church in the months to come. I am excited to be writing my doctoral dissertation over the course of this year on the topic which we have been involved in together here at Christ Church, sermon-based small groups! In fact, in mid-September I will need to begin at least two new small groups for the purposes of my thesis project this year. Therefore, we will be highlighting both existing groups and new small groups in August and September with the intent of involving new people in this life giving ministry you are all such a vital part of.
Beginning this Sunday, the sermon based discussion guides will be made available again at smallgroupleaders.net and in a weekly email. It is up to you and your group to determine when the best time is to begin meeting again. Some may choose not to begin until after labor day weekend, and others of you may wish to start again right away. For the purposes of inviting new people into a limited timeframe of commitment to a small group experience, its best to define a fall “semester.” To keep it 8-13 weeks, I suggest ending the semester the week before thanksgiving week. You can still choose to meet after that time frame as the group determines for regular meetings or fellowship meals, but the upfront time commitment for invitations should probably be no longer than that. You may want to start inviting new people to your group right now.
There are two resources available to you to support you in your service as a small group leader at Christ Church this fall. The first is the five session Small Group Leader’s Equipping Track on Wednesday nights at 6:30pm, starting Sept 12th. If you have done one of the prior courses before, there is no need to do it again. But if you missed the previous courses and are available, please join me this fall semester to review topics such as how to lead spiritual conversations, tools for understanding and sharing the gospel of Christ, what is the Bible, and what is my story to name a few. This group is open to current and new leaders and those who are considering serving as leaders in a discipleship group of some kind.
*New this year- Discipleship Leader’s Breakfast, Tuesdays at 8am with me, Pastor Dan, at Jacob’s Well in the Gathering Hall. This is for small group, Bible study, home group, and Sunday school class leaders or teachers. It is also for those who are attending the Small Group Leaders Equipping Track with the intent to be leaders in new discipleship ministry groups. The purpose of this experience is primarily to support leaders in their personal discipleship and small group evangelism and secondarily to offer opportunity for the informal review of the sermon themes from the previous Sunday and next Sunday. Each Tuesday will offer a time of a devotional message which I will bring, a time of prayer as a group and the chance to have some good coffee from Jacob’s Well and breakfast tacos that will be brought in. We will need to RSVP for quantity planning and donations will be accepted for reimbursement.
Welcome back everyone! I’m so glad to be getting back to our small group community life and growing together in Christ!
Blessings!
Dan Conway
Pastor of Discipleship & Outreach
Christ Church