As many of you know, we started “Out Of The Box Worship Center 18 months ago. The new worship center has been a great success and by success I mean that many people are finding Life Changing Relationships with Jesus Christ. The great thing is, we are growing. The opportunity we have is getting people to gather in Life Groups.
We have been working diligently to find ways to get people more actively involved together, outside of the worship time on Sunday mornings. This is why I chose to read this book. We have come to the conclusion that “traditional” Life Groups, Small Groups, Sunday School Classes, whatever you choose to call them, they are not working for us.
We are gathering a lot through Social Media and I am pleased with this. I personally believe the social media aspect is undersold and misunderstood with much of the church world today. We are just searching for more, if this make sense. By the way, Howerton says we have to change the language from “Groups” to “Gatherings” today and I understand that.
Here is the question Rick Howerton starts with, “Are we seeing so many ways to do group because many, many great church leaders know something is out of sync and are courageous enough to go looking for the answer?”
Well, we are looking for new ways…
“Here’s the deal: I believe that the small-group movement cannot continue on its current trajectory or it will become just another neutered experience for already over programmed church types, church members whose greatest adventure is attending the next church-sponsored class, whose greatest sacrifice is dropping a few bucks into the offering plate as it goes by, individuals who will exit the local church as soon as it no longer makes them happy or is unable to shield them from the sinful, dark world that exists outside the four walls of the church building. The world has changed, the way we do group has not — but it must.”
Yes we must change but I still do not know for sure after reading this book, just what the answer is. This is a great book and I learned a lot of great things but I still do not have the answer for our not so unique situation at Out Of The Box Worship Center.
Here are a few of the ideas that I received from the book.
#1. Mature Disciples are NOT made in a Classroom.
#2. Gatherings need to include a mix in everything including age of the people.
#3. Tribal Gatherings are Missional.
#4. Gatherings “Groups” are not just for like minded, saved, people.
#5. Tribal gatherings are not about “who thinks like me” but who thinks?”
#6. Anyone is welcome in a Tribal Gathering. Ethnicity, age, etc…
You can follow Rick at @rickhowerton on twitter, he is posting lots of information about “groups” or “Gatherings.”
I highly recommend this book, it has great value, even though it hasn’t answered my questions as to what we need to be doing at OOTBWC, I will follow @rickhowerton to see if anything comes up.
Ronnie
