Food connects people. Dinner parties can be kept casual and are a great option if you have someone willing to cook or share in the meal preparations. They are a good place to start relationships with people you don’t know much about yet and they are great to invite ‘unchurched’ people to.
The aim is to get to know each other better. Avoid staying superficial. Aim to have real-life conversations and include an appropriate discussion about a faith-based topic. Discern how much or little prayer is appropriate, but aim to always include at least a small prayer before the meal and at the end of the night.
Bible studies can involve a meal, and snacks are always a good option, but the main focus is to study the Bible. This could involve the discussion of each Sunday’s topic, a book-by-book study, or other resources, such as The Bible Project videos, YouVersion Bible Reading plans, etc. Please note that any external resources need to be approved by our pastors before introducing them to a group. Discussions need to be inclusive and appropriate for all members; deep theological debates might not be.
A Bible study group also includes prayer. We encourage opening the meeting with prayer to invite God to guide your conversations, and then leave some time (15-20 minutes) towards the end to pray about the needs that have come up during the meeting or that anyone needs prayer for. Commit to praying for each other during the week as well.
Prayer groups can be short and sweet, between 30 and 60 minutes of prayer. We want to avoid catching up for 55 minutes and then pray for 5 minutes. The prayer group can be focused on specific ongoing needs in the community, on personal challenges of the group members, or on anything the group feels prompted to pray about that day. Please keep all prayer points confidential. We encourage utilising prayers from the Bible and keeping prayers simple. 24-7 Prayer also has some great resources to utilise in a prayer group.
- Interest or mission groups:
Interest or mission groups can be a great way to start your journey of joining a connect group. They can be kept casual, and while focusing on a shared interest or mission, we can build relationships with like-minded people. Interest or mission groups are also a perfect place to invite ‘non-churched’ people to. While it is not required to share a scripture or pray together, we want to aim to include faith-based/real-life conversations in the meetings. Pray for your meetings and members regularly!
While any group can include supporting a mission, interest or mission groups can be focused on a specific purpose for a limited time or ongoing.
Examples of interest or mission groups:
