A SOLID FOUNDATION

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has foundational issues. Since its initial construction, the tower has leaned due to problems with the foundation and the soil on which it is built.

Everyone understands that anytime we undertake a building project of any size, it is important to initially consider the strength and reliability of the foundation. Otherwise, the building will end up like the Tower, leaning. Or perhaps worse, your building may fall!

As we undertake this exciting process of growing formative, caring, and missional LIFEGroups, we need to be careful to consider our foundation.

By the end of 2006, we will be very close to reaching our goal of having 40 healthy and identifiable LIFEGroups at Calvary. However, if we do not have a strong foundation for our LIFEGroups, we will be unable to see this early success translate into long-term health.

Over the next two months, you will hear a lot about LIFESupport Groups. These are groups specifically designed for you, the LIFEGroup driver. We believe that the foundation of healthy groups is healthy drivers, and the surest way to grow healthy groups is to invest our resources in maintaining the help of our group drivers.
LIFESupport will be the vehicle we use to build into your health!

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10 Summer Activities To Keep Your Small Group Connected

I just sent an email to all our small group leaders (I do this 3-4 times each month). This week's focus was STAYING CONNECTED THROUGH THE SUMMER. Below is a list of 10 summer activities a small group can use to stay connected. These are specifically created for groups at The Gathering, but you can pretty easily modify the list to fit your church or your community. Go to a Dragon's Game together. You can buy tickets as a group from the church for the game on July 11. Design a Progressive Dinner. Have appetizers at one house, salad at another, the main course somewhere else and dessert at a final destination. Have a monthly barbecue party. Serve together. Pick a place (Good Neighbor House, St. Vincents, Victory Project, Pirate Packs, Caring Partners International, One Bistro) and sign up to serve as a group one afternoon or evening. Meet up at the Family Movie Night on June 15. Spend a day at King's Island. Work at the church for an afternoon. We have many proj...

20 Questions to Build Group Connections

Here is a great exercise for a new group. The instructions are pretty simple. Go around the group giving each person the opportunity to choose one question and answer it honestly. Anyone can follow-up with an opinion or clarifying question (no critiquing each other's answers, though). Once a question has been answered, no one else may answer that question. If your group is larger, you may want to alter the rule and allow each question to be answered 2 or 3 times. Ideally, each person should end up answering 3-5 questions. As the leader, pay attention to the conversation. Let the discussion run its course as this is how people in the group build their relationships with one another. You can use these questions, modify them or create your own.

5 Conversations Every Small Group Should Have

Small group gatherings are not business meetings. They need not have rigid agendas or strict time constraints. Although effective groups often follow set curriculum, there are times when they can take a break from their plans and have conversations about their group’s health. These five questions can be used together or one at a time. They are designed to help groups’ determine their identity, diagnoses their health and develop a plan for the future. How can we meet one another’s needs? Acts is full of stories about Christians finding creative means by which they can meet each other’s needs. Some even sold their properties and possessions. The small group is the ideal lab in which we can work out what it truly means to love one another as Jesus loved us. If the greatest love of all is laying down our lives for each other (and it is), then meeting the needs of others in our group should be one of our first and highest priorities. How can we encourage one another? 1...

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