Semesters

Everyone in our culture understands semesters.

• They dominate kids lives.
• They dictate families schedules.
• They direct the rhythm of our society.

Semesters certainly effect church life. We always talk about things slowing down in the summer (which still drives me crazy) and gearing up in the fall. SO instead of working across the grain of a rather benign cultural reality, we are going to use if to our advantage in our Connection Groups ministry.

So here's a preview of what coming this September...

The Semester Structure- three seasons to FOCUS, FORM, FILL and FACILITATE Groups.

• FOCUS is about prayerfully deciding how many groups we need, where they are located, evaluating our ministry.
• FORM is about asking creating our Catalog of Connection Groups- who, when and where
• FILL is about getting our people signed up for CG’s
• FACILITATE is about relationships and changed lives!

“Why the Semester Approach? I thought our groups meet from now until Jesus’ return?”

• The semester format is familiar to everyone in our culture.
• It gives a clear starting and stopping time, so people can sign up for the first time and not feel like it will last forever.
• It gives a built in rest for facilitators, hosts, and participants at busy times of the year.
• It allows people to take a break from a group and not feel like they are dropping out.
• It allows people to step back into a group very easily.
• It does not prevent people from a group re-registering for the same group. (This build continuity.)
• At the same time, this prevents stagnation by allowing groups to experience the blessing of “fresh faces” each semester.
• It allows groups to grow! If your group has someone who is ready to facilitate a group of their own, we make plans for them to FORM a new group starting the next semester.
• It allows us to have a few Focus groups. For example, CG ALPHA.

FAQ’s

• We’ll sign up as many as 18-20 per group, as some people will probably not show up or drop out.
• We will FILL groups with 12 people. It worked for Jesus, it will work for us.
• Groups of less than 12 will remain “open” for new participants, even past the FILL period.
• If all 20 people show up and commit to stick with the group, we can create a new group, as that would be one very motivated group of people showing tremendous initiative!
• We will have CG’s spread throughout the city and will list them by location and time in the catalog (example: North Central, Tuesdays at 7:30pm)
• Each CG will have a Facilitator, a FIT (Facilitator In Training) and a Host who will have attended the CG training session.
• Hosts will actually host the group at their house, or, if meeting the leaders house, will come early to help prepare.
• Groups will meet for 1.5 hours if meeting weekly.
• Groups should plan for 2 hours if meeting every other week.
• We STRONGLY encourage groups to meet weekly, as we will be using a “semester” format, which I’ll explain in a moment.
• The standard CG curriculum will be provided each week by the church and will be based off of the Sunday service (a more in depth rational for this approach will be explained during the training).
• We do hope to offer a very select few “FOCUS” groups. Currently the only one that is being formed is a “Connection Group- ALPHA.”

What our Goal?
100%
100% of the people who worship at Connections to be exposed to Connection Groups and to become a part of Connection Groups. This means that if we have 200 people who attend Connections in any given month, we need space for 200 to register.
That's our goal, and that's 100%