The Small Group Journey

Small Groups as Velcro

One of the books I'm currently reading is Comeback Churches.  This book examined 324 comeback churches. That is, these churches experienced renewed growth after a period of decline. They experienced five years of plateau or decline followed by significant growth in membership and at least a 10% increase in attendance per year.

In the chapter on "Connecting People through Small Groups" the author cites some Gallup research about the needs people say they have.  According to George Gallup, when ask what their needs were people answered with these common responses ...

1. To believe life is meaningful and has purpose.
2. To have a sense of community and deeper relationships.
3. To be appreciated and respected.
4. To be listened to and heard.
5. To grow in faith.
6. To receive practical help in developing a mature faith.

Small groups can be an excellent avenue for meeting these six common needs identified by people.  So if small groups can intentionally address these six responses they can act as Velcro. As the author puts it ... "Small groups are like Velcro shoes for little kids." (p. 150)

Small Groups & the Rally!

Small Groups have a special connection to the district-wide Ablaze! Rally. The first Ablaze! Rally in 2006, "Ignite the Fire," saw the launch of our Groups Ablaze! effort in the Northern Illinois District. Sixty-five congregations were part of that small group effort to share the "Motivation for Mission," and over 6,600 individuals have been part of the small group experience since then.

Now we have the opportunity to "Keep the Fire Burning" with Ablaze! Rally 2008. If all of our small group participants came together for this exciting rally, it would be inspiring indeed. But we want even more to catch the vision for a church body that's Ablaze! to share the Gospel -- don't you?

So here's what we're asking of our small groups:
1.  Recruit all the small group members from your church to come to the Ablaze! Rally at the NIU Convocation Center on Sunday, September 28. The moving and dramatic presentation by the JesusPainter is well worth any time and distance that you invest to be there.

2.  Then, be sure to invite the members of your congregation that are not part of a small group. Get posters and flyers from the Rally Website, and watch for a short, promotional DVD that you can play before services at your church.

3.  Finally, consider having your small group donate an hour or two of time as rally volunteers. We need ticket assistants, ushers, information guides, folks to help clean up at the end, etc. -- about 70 or 80 volunteers are needed. Please let the district president's office know that you are interested, NIDPres@ni.lcms.org.

Get tickets and rally information at the Website http://www.peopleablaze.org/Index.asp?PageID=9524

Monday Musings

Some things I’m thinking 
about this Monday …

• LSB Guitar Chord Edition - I just received the long awaited Guitar Chord Edition of the Lutheran Service Book.  At first glance it looks like it was even edited by a guitarist!  Click the above link and be sure to check out the MP3 files.  More later!
• NID Turbo Group Training - Earlier this week I met with Pastor Ted Vratny, Immanuel, Hillside. We talked about an NID sponsored turbo group training.  It sounded like a very intriguing idea.  More later!!
• Guitar Club - The Guitar Club met Saturday and was great fun.  Check the previous post!
• We had an Ablaze Rally Team meeting as we continue to shape the September 28 Rally.  While tickets are free, they are required.  I'm really excited about the program and how it will share the vision of New Starts ... New Believers!
• I'm involved in a project called the DCE Career Path Research.  The team met last week at St. Mary's in Mundelein.  With almost 850 responses to the survey do we have data!!! It’s quite interesting, though, to see the patterns and themes.
• This weekend I played acoustic guitar with the praise team at Trinity, Lisle.  I was struck by the lyrics of a song by Aaron Niequist titled "Changed."  We're in the middle of a sermon series titled "Changed To Bring Change" and are singing this song every week.  Some of the lyrics include ...

  In Jesus' name we are changed, we are called
  We are chosen, adopted and named
  In Jesus' name we are loved, we are healed

  I have been blessed - now I want to be a blessing
  I have been loved - now I want to bring love
  I've been invited - I want to share the invitation
  I have been changed - to bring change, to bring change

Until next Monday ... I pray the Holy Spirit will use you to be a blessing, to bring love, to share the invitation and to bring change!

Summer Outreach Event

Congregations in the northwest suburbs are partnering with one another for a major outreach event.  Here's a note from Pastor Micah Greiner, St. Peter, Arlington Heights.

For the first time ever, on Friday morning, August 1, a dozen LCMS congregations in the north and northwest suburbs will be teaming up for a unified outreach initiative! In the heat of the summer, they will provide busy commuters at Metra and CTA stations in their communities with a bit of relief by passing out free water bottles, no strings attached!  Each of these water bottles bears a custom label pointing to Jesus as the Source of Living Water, as well as an additional tag with information about each individual  congregation. Born out of a study on unity in the church, the joint effort is a wonderful expression of the same, as these congregations walk together in seeking to help busy commuters quench their thirst, both today and for eternity!

For more information contact Micah at: (847) 259-4114 x.122 or mgreiner@stpeter-ah.org.

Guitar Club Update

I have previously written about the Guitar Club which meets on Saturday mornings from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at our home.  Our primary goal is to play the guitar and very much revolves around peer teaching as we share things we've learned about being a guitarist.

Today we worked on a couple songs ...

Abba Father by Daniel Doss Band

Whole World in His Hands by Tim Hughes

To work on the concept of a 1-4-5 progression we had some fun with a few "classic rock tunes." 

Kansas City 

Horse With No Name by America 

Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys 

All in all it was a fun morning reminding me how much fun you can have as part of an interest small group! 

New Starts -- New Believers

Rev. Dan Gilbert, President of the Northern Illinois District, wrote an article recently for the Center for U.S. Missions on New Starts.

Read Article

Transforming Church Boards

Transforming Church Boards into Communities of Spiritual Leaders by Charles M. Olsen

Olsen presents a bold vision of leadership -- one that offers church board work as an integral part of congregational leaders' faith experience and development. Board or council members' faith is engaged, and informs the way they conduct the church's business. Discover inspiring, practical ways your board can make its meetings become opportunities for deepening faith and developing leadership.  This book has been around for a while but has some really great thoughts.  Click here for more information.

From Dr. Lou Jander | MMF Weekly Update | 7/6/2008

Monday Musings

Some things I’m thinking
about this Monday …

• This weekend the LCMS National Children's Ministry Conference was held at St. Peter, Schaumburg.  Over 400 people involved in children's ministry gathered from all around the country.  It was an exciting weekend.
• This past week I had a number of one-on-one coaching appointments. More and more I’m seeing how coaching can be a powerful approach to leader development. In addition to coaching in small group ministry, NID’s Refocus process has strong coaching component.
• I met with a church that attended the NID Small Groups Summit last year and is now interested in launching a turbo group. It’s exciting to see how many people are beginning to understand the role small groups can play in a church’s ministry.
• It’s really hard to believe tomorrow night is the “mid-summer classic” … the All Star Baseball Game. Where has the first half gone??

Have a blessed week!

Using Triads

Sharing the Gospel with unreached people is not programmatic, but is a function of personal, informal relationships. The concept of Triads is explained in great detail in Neil Cole's book: Cultivating a Life for God. It is a simple idea: three people, one of which is a seeker, meet regularly around prayer and scripture. Meetings of three people are informal, need no facilities, and are easily coordinated among their various schedules.

Triads arise out of the initiative of individual Christians, not church programs, and become a non-threatening place for seekers to ask questions, share concerns and meet the personal Jesus. While the church cannot always program the activities of triads, it can encourage church members to form these basic building blocks for sharing faith, which will ultimately bring new people into the Kingdom of God as well as into His church.

Click for More Information

Groups News

There was a great article about Groups Ablaze. Click below to read ...

Groups Ablaze! by Diane Strzelecki