Creative Community

FOCUS YOUR SMALL GROUP BY MAKING YOUR TIME TOGETHER A BLUR B reak Bread Whether you enjoy an entire meal together or simply have popcorn and drinks, sharing food is a great way to break down barriers and promote openness. Relationships grow exponentially quicker when food is involved. L earn About Each Other Before you dive into Bible study or watching a video, take a few minutes to learn one another’s stories. Answering one or two questions each week leads to great discussion and can often become a powerful bonding time that everyone looks forward. Use crowd-breaker questions, or steal cards from a game like Zobmondo or Would You Rather. U npack God’s Word You might watch a video, read a book together, or work your way through a section of the Bible. Whatever you are doing to promote spiritual growth, do it in a way that empowers every group member to participate and own the process. Open-ended discussion questions are usually the best way to get people egaged ...

Dr. James Scott says at his blog : There's nothing magical about small groups! What?!?! Seriously. Many people believe that small groups are some kind of magic bullet that can cure every ill known to man and the church. They aren't. In fact, I would go a step further and say that there is NOTHING in and of small groups themselves that makes them special. However, small groups with the right perspective can be a different story. Here's what Scott say in the rest of his post: Simply getting a group of people to meet together regularly doesn't, by itself, transform the church, result in revival, instantly produce mature Christians, or meet the needs of those meeting together. What does make small groups vital parts of the church that impact congregations and communities is the motive of the group participants. When Christians come together to share life as the body of Christ on earth, as the early Christians we read about in the Book of Acts did, th...

An article by Dennis McCallum points out eleven reasons "home groups" fail. We use the term LIFEGroups, but these eleven "reasons" provide interesting food for thought. We'll talk a little about them this Sunday at our Driver's Summit. Read the whole article by clicking here. Read the main points below: 1. They are often not based on New Testament theory 2. The wrong criteria are sometimes followed for the selection of leaders 3. Frequently, insufficient authority is given to the leaders 4. The groups may have an unhealthy inward-focus 5. There is often no provision for church discipline within the small group 6. All groups may be the same, rather than diversified and matched to their members 7. There may be no adequate equipping offered to would-be leaders 8. The church may set no multiplication goals, and may have no good plan for multiplying home groups 9. Small groups are sometimes viewed as peripheral rather than central to the li...

I wrote this many years ago. Emma is still amazing, but her amazingness exhibits itself in other pursuits these days... Emma is an amazing girl. In addition to being an all "A" student, she is a competitive gymnast (her team was 10 th in the state this year), plays basketball, and excels at two musical instruments. Each spring, we celebrate her musical accomplishments by sitting through her recitals. Last year, as I sat and listened to the other students, enduring the missed notes, dissonant chords, and choppy timing, I began to think about the nature of a recital. Students practice six months for this one performance, yet the reason their parents have put them into lessons has nothing to do with this recital or the lessons or all that practice. The reason for piano lessons is to learn a lifelong skill that will enrich one's life and the lives around them. Recital's are just a step along the way. Typically a good teacher will choose recital songs that appear at f...

Here is a simple thing to do with your group to encourage more/better Bible study. Pass out the list below, and encourage everyone to choose 5 of the 13 options to try during the week. When you get back together, have people share the ups and downs of trying different ways of doing Bible study. 1. Pray first 2. Re-write the passage in your own words 3. Jot down the first things that come to mind as you read 4. Make a list of questions you have 5. Use commentaries, friends, and the internet to find answers to your questions 6. Consider if the passage brings to mind teachings of Jesus 7. Think about Old Testament stories which may apply or be similar to the passage 8. Identify several key words and meditate on them 9. Use a concordance to find and consider other passages which use the same and similar words 10. Consider every day experiences which illustrate the passage's main idea 11. Write a personal response to the passage 12. Draw a picture illustrating ...