This fall, Wildwood is launching many new home Community Groups. During the month of July, Pastor John Abernethy and myself are leading a training course for new and existing leaders (63 people involved in Community Group leadership next year and counting!). Since this is happening during the summer months, many leaders will miss one or more of the sessions. Therefore, we are attempting to digitize the class sessions for those who miss a week or two. I will be posting each week the previous Sunday night’s training sessions. Each post will include:
- Audio from the training in mp3 format.
- Slides from the presentation in pdf format.
- Any other relevant info.
Hope this helps!
This week’s info is found below with the following caveats. Since this is the first time we have done this, there are a few things that are a bit rough. The audio from John’s teaching session is truncated on both ends. I did not get the “start” button set on the audio early enough, so the first four or five minutes of his presentation are cut off. Sorry about that! All you missed from the beginning was John reading Eugene Peterson’s quote about being a Spiritual Director. You can find that quote in the pdf version of the slides. Second, I forgot to start the audio at all for my 15 minute wrap up at the end. I have tried to recreate my 15 minutes in text form below. We will try to work out these kinks for future weeks. Thanks!
MP3 File Download (Audio from John’s Talk): CG Leader Training #1 (July 10, 2011)
Listen to John’s talk online:
Slides from John’s presentation: CG Training – session 1 slides
Mark’s presentation:
I talked about some of the logistics that leaders needed to be considering for the fall Community Group launch. Four specific issues related to groups were discussed:
Co-leader: Groups are encouraged (but not required) to be led by more than one person/couple. This allows for group stability, shared responsibility, and additional gifts added to the leadership team. Leaders were encouraged to think about who they would like to co-lead with this fall.
Preferred day/time for group to meet: Leaders are encouraged to think critically about when they would like their group to meet. What days work best for them? Leaders were encouraged to think not only of what time the group would start, but also what time it would end. Also, how frequent a group meets was discussed. By definition, Community Groups must meet at least twice a month, with the frequency beyond that being up to individual group leaders. Advantages to meeting weekly are consistency and potentially deeper relationships. Advantages to meeting twice a month are less childcare needs, less “cost” of time, and easier to fit into people’s schedules.
Preferred meeting location: Options were discussed ranging from meeting in one consistent location to rotating locations. There are pluses and minuses to both. The advantage to meeting in the same location is consistency. The advantage to rotating is it gives people the chance to have the group into their own home, thus gaining ownership in the group. Rooms at the church can also be reserved for group meetings.
Food: Food helps people fellowship. We discussed having people in the group rotate bringing snacks. Some groups even have full meals when they meet. The advantage to a full meal is it allows you to start the group earlier on an evening . . . people don’t have to eat before they come. Also eating a full meal builds a friendly environment. The downside to eating a full meal together is work, organization, and it lengthens the time needed for the meeting. Group leaders can make their own decisions about what they want to do related to food.