Godsend.Intro
Who it’s for?
Congregations who realize they must do something (eg to reach families and youth, to survive as a church), but have no idea how and are overwhelmed by the thought of big changes in their church life.
People who have looked at some of the other Godsend.Into sessions and are asking “Why?”
Opening prayer/worship (10 mins)
Leader’s brief input (2 mins):
Use Soulspace (cofe.io/soulspace) or another resource.
Warm up questions (10 mins)
Either:
As a church, whom do we most want to love and serve in our community?
Or:
Read Luke 15. 1-7 (parable of lost sheep). How does this story challenge your thinking? How are you feeling in response?
Or:
Over the years, what aspects of your church life have brought you greatest joy? Which of these would you most like to share with others?
Leader’s brief input (2 mins):
Big win from new Christian communities is that you don’t have to change your existing congregation. We can go on worshipping as we are used to, but at the same time draw new people into our church life by starting a new Christian community among and with them.
Video: “Reasons” (c15 mins)
- From those videos, what are the main lessons for us?
- What shall we do next? Select from this menu of ideas, which are designed to spark the group’s thinking. (They are on a handout that you can print off and distribute.)
- Watch (again) the taster video – “What’s it about?”
- Do Godsend.Intro session “How do we start?”
- Watch the video in this session again and discuss it – “There’s a lot to take in.”
- Ask someone who knows about new Christian communities (or has started one) to come and talk to us.
- One or two people read the first three chapters of Michael Moynagh, Godsend (available from Amazon) or look at the first three sessions on the website, godsend.cloud, and next time share what they learnt.
- Come up with a better next step.