Fall Meeting

Dear Small Group Leaders,

I am so thankful for the many of you who could be present at our meeting on Sunday.  I believe it was a great time and I appreciate your feedback on all that we discussed.  I am excited for the direction and the continued fresh focus on small group ministries. 

The time for feedback is not over!  I have been hearing from many of you already with fresh ideas that you have.  I love that.  As you continue to think, pray, and dream about how small groups can be the most effective in caring for people, please email me.  I would love to hear from you.

I am providing a short synopsis of what we discussed during our time together:

•    Jason and Amy Snyder will be moving into a new season of ministry- church planting in Vancouver,     WA.   Over the next few months Amy will be passing off the leadership of Small Groups to Tim.

•    Small Group Ministry is vital in assimilating people into the life of our church.  Small Groups are our
chosen avenue to help people become connected to the life of PDX4.

•    Specific ideas for 2009:
         1.  We want to create on-ramps and off-ramps for our Small Groups, so that people don’t feel          “stuck” in a group forever (which can be a real hindrance, causing some people to not sign up). The proposed idea is that we would re-structure small groups to fit a trimester schedule, running small groups for approximately 12 weeks, three times each year.

          2.  During the breaks between small group sessions, we would intentionally promote small group    sign-ups church wide.

          3.  During the 3 sessions, one session could be an opportunity for the entire church to study the same material, such as sermon discussion.  The other 2 sessions could be used to engage in book studies, journaling, etc.

          4.  Questions and feedback were very positive.  Many ideas came from this time such as improved written communications, improved ways to meet new people, improvements to connecting through the web, etc.

If you have additional ideas of thoughts that have come to your mind as you have been thinking about this, please feel free to send me your ideas!  I always enjoy hearing from you. 

Reminder: Post Your Attendance! Please let me know if you have any trouble with posting your attendance, and I will be happy to help you.

Thank you so much. You are valued!

Amy