How to get a Multi-parish Small Group Started
So, your parish has decided to team up with another parish and work together to host a Meeting Jesus small group! Wonderful!
Here are your next steps:
- Gather a team of lay leadership (and perhaps clergy) to determine the best ways that your communities can engage with Meeting Jesus together.
- Figure out how to engage with your participants. Will the group meet in person, or online? Will there be a Quiet Day? If yes, where will it be?
- Figure out logistics.
- Set a timeline.
- Recruit leaders. Depending on how you’ve decided to proceed, you may need a host and facilitator for each small group, two online moderators, and a Quiet Day leader.
- Meet Jesus in the Gospel of John! Embark on the journey together.
Because each context and each group of parishes is different, it’s important to think carefully through what will work and what won’t work for you. We’ll be making recommendations for effective multi-parish small groups, but you are the expert of your own communities. That being said, we hope that you’ll be willing to experiment and try new things. Relationships and collaboration between parishes are becoming more important than ever.
I appreciate the hints.
My role in our Parish is I am a Lay Reader.
I lead the church, I regularly attend in Morning Prayer Services twice a month and Our Minister
leads our church twice a month in Holy Communion Services.
FYI
Richard OCF
I did not explain myself.
We are a Multi-Point Parish. Three Churches
Christ Church Anglican Church, St Georges Anglican Church and St James Anglican Church
My mistake
Richard OCF
My Name is Richard O’Conor-Fenton (from now on Richard OCF) and I am a co-facilitator for our Multi-Parish small group. In discussions with my other half it ha been decided that we will be doing a 6 week course, once a week. We have a number of challenges.
1. We are sometimes 6 and some times 10.
2 Less than half have any access to a computer and consequently have no knowledge on how to operate one.
3 We have been meeting once a week for the past 5 years and the members are not interested in
meeting more frequently.(one the part of the minister and myself, we do a number of services weekly with Nursing Homes, Retirement homes, home visits and hospital visits, which leave us with very little free time left.(PS our wives like to see us occasionally)
I hope this program can accommodate us.
Please advise.
Blessings
Richard OCF
I believe you’ll be able to easily adapt the daily prayers to a weekly meeting. If you are finding this to be a challenge, please reach out to me directly at dpresnell@ssje.org and we can discuss ways to fit the offering into your schedule. Very happy to hear you’ll be praying with us through Lent.