Something New
Regularly on Sunday nights, there are several people from the church who get together at my house. We eat a little, laugh a little, pray a little, etc; we enjoy being together. One of the other things we do is talk about the Bible. This tends to be accomplished by either a group member leading us in a study/discussion of a particular passage of the Bible, or by our viewing a video and following it with discussion from our Christian perspective. Over the past two weeks we have been trying something different.
Two weeks ago, we replaced the Bible study or video with discussions about the sermon we heard on Sunday morning. We begin with a short prayer followed by an ice-breaker. Our ice-breaker is each of us sharing something that is personal, but not invasive; for example, "What is one trait about yourself that you really like?" The ice-breaker is followed by a 45 second recap and outline of the sermon. This is easy for us since I am usually the one who gives the sermon. I must admit I have to work hard not to re preach the sermon. For me, the whole sermon is important; how can I leave anything out? Next, we take turns mentioning the points that really hit home for each of us. This allows us to share what the Lord spoke to each of us that morning. Our relationship with God is personal and, in many ways, is unique to the individual. We have been meeting together for a while, so most of us recognize the environment is a safe one in which to share difficulties or areas of need or doubt. As people mention things we may bring up Scriptures that deal with the topic or take time to look at the sermon's supporting Scriptures to see if they, in context, really say what the Pastor said. This personal sharing allows us to be vulnerable for the purpose of getting help, encouragement, support, etc. After about an hour, we bring some closure to the discussion and close in prayer. Then we retire to the kitchen and enjoy some snacks and talk about life.
We have all really enjoyed the opportunity that this new format affords us and we have already seen several benefits.
-Even if someone from the group misses the sermon on Sunday morning, they don't miss the message, because we discuss it on Sunday night.
-If people have questions about something that I said on Sunday, they can ask about it in our group and we can all answer from our perspective.
-Another thing that we have noticed is that at times we may each take away something different from the sermon. There is a certain portion or phrase that the Lord brings to our attention and it may very well be different from what he pointed out to someone else. In this environment we get to hear other people's perspective and we are all the more enriched by it.
-One other benefit we have seen so far is that of people taking notes during the sermon. I never noticed it before, but when we get ready to discuss on Sunday night, several people pull out their notebook to look over the notes they took that morning. I have to say that as a pastor that is both exciting and humbling.
Our goal for our group is to move toward authentic community. This new practice seems to be helping. Of course, we just started this new practice and I realize it will take a while to see the effects of this minor adjustment.
For anyone who may care, I want to quickly share my personal motivation for trying this new format. We have several small groups like this at our church, but they seem to be focused on teaching. From my perspective, people come to Sunday School and hear a message, people come to church service and hear a message, and people attend a small group and hear a message. God has called us to learn and grow, but we can't be really learning everything we are hearing. I wanted to provide an opportunity for people to talk about what is being "learned." I want us to talk about what God is doing and talk about how that applies to each persons individual life. Of course, the goal is not all talk, but action. I find that people are more likely to put stuff into action when they have had a chance to talk about it, figure out what it means for them, have help seeing ways to put that lesson into action, and have friends who will gracefully help them be accountable for the decisions they make. Discipleship has to include sharing life together and not just hearing about life.
We'll see how the experiment goes.
Two weeks ago, we replaced the Bible study or video with discussions about the sermon we heard on Sunday morning. We begin with a short prayer followed by an ice-breaker. Our ice-breaker is each of us sharing something that is personal, but not invasive; for example, "What is one trait about yourself that you really like?" The ice-breaker is followed by a 45 second recap and outline of the sermon. This is easy for us since I am usually the one who gives the sermon. I must admit I have to work hard not to re preach the sermon. For me, the whole sermon is important; how can I leave anything out? Next, we take turns mentioning the points that really hit home for each of us. This allows us to share what the Lord spoke to each of us that morning. Our relationship with God is personal and, in many ways, is unique to the individual. We have been meeting together for a while, so most of us recognize the environment is a safe one in which to share difficulties or areas of need or doubt. As people mention things we may bring up Scriptures that deal with the topic or take time to look at the sermon's supporting Scriptures to see if they, in context, really say what the Pastor said. This personal sharing allows us to be vulnerable for the purpose of getting help, encouragement, support, etc. After about an hour, we bring some closure to the discussion and close in prayer. Then we retire to the kitchen and enjoy some snacks and talk about life.
We have all really enjoyed the opportunity that this new format affords us and we have already seen several benefits.
-Even if someone from the group misses the sermon on Sunday morning, they don't miss the message, because we discuss it on Sunday night.
-If people have questions about something that I said on Sunday, they can ask about it in our group and we can all answer from our perspective.
-Another thing that we have noticed is that at times we may each take away something different from the sermon. There is a certain portion or phrase that the Lord brings to our attention and it may very well be different from what he pointed out to someone else. In this environment we get to hear other people's perspective and we are all the more enriched by it.
-One other benefit we have seen so far is that of people taking notes during the sermon. I never noticed it before, but when we get ready to discuss on Sunday night, several people pull out their notebook to look over the notes they took that morning. I have to say that as a pastor that is both exciting and humbling.
Our goal for our group is to move toward authentic community. This new practice seems to be helping. Of course, we just started this new practice and I realize it will take a while to see the effects of this minor adjustment.
For anyone who may care, I want to quickly share my personal motivation for trying this new format. We have several small groups like this at our church, but they seem to be focused on teaching. From my perspective, people come to Sunday School and hear a message, people come to church service and hear a message, and people attend a small group and hear a message. God has called us to learn and grow, but we can't be really learning everything we are hearing. I wanted to provide an opportunity for people to talk about what is being "learned." I want us to talk about what God is doing and talk about how that applies to each persons individual life. Of course, the goal is not all talk, but action. I find that people are more likely to put stuff into action when they have had a chance to talk about it, figure out what it means for them, have help seeing ways to put that lesson into action, and have friends who will gracefully help them be accountable for the decisions they make. Discipleship has to include sharing life together and not just hearing about life.
We'll see how the experiment goes.