Lent
is a special time for personal reflection and examination. But it is also
an appropriate setting and time frame for temporary small groups. And a
temporary small group is an excellent opportunity to introduce new people
to the small group experience. Our church has sponsored a 6-week Lenten
small group discussion series for several years with good response.
Using the same study material with each group, we offer the series at three different times per week: Sunday evening at church, Wednesday morning at church, and Tuesday evening at the home of a church member.
Our discussion material is geared to an introductory short term theme. Faith at Work has a variety of resources available. A place to start would be "The Spiral Journey" (Meyer and Boyle). Although there are 12 sessions in the booklet, don't let that scare you away. It is possible to find six to fit your particular needs.
If your church has had no small group experience, it would be important to "call" a group of three or four persons to be small-group leaders and take some time together to discuss small group dynamics and prepare the material to be used.
If you do have small groups in place, you have built-in leadership for a Lenten series. Members of the group can take turns leading the discussion. Thus the leadership burden is lessened. Leaders need to be especially sensitive if there is a mix of experienced small-groupers and newcomers. The environment must be safe enough that newcomers can speak or be silent, and that the more experienced neither dominate nor overwhelm.
In order to attract young parents, make sure that child care is available. We offer child care at all sessions at the church.
We structure the sessions to one and one-half hours and covenant to stay within those limits. Nothing can drive a newcomer away faster than being careless about stated limits. We offer coffee (tea, etc.) and a simple snack, as part of the session. One caution about snacks: Someone in your group may be diabetic. Make sure you offer something that is on their diet.
What about getting to know each other? Perhaps if the group is diverse (and I hope it is), name tags would be helpful. Ice-breaker questions, even in Lent, are not a waste of time.
In spite of announcements in church bulletins, new people need personal invitations. If you can't bring them along with you, plan to meet them at the door. We have sign-up sheets but use them simply as a guide for leaders and snack-providers. Each group is open to anyone if only for one session.
Of course prayer is the prelude for any Lenten endeavor. And it continues as the spiritual foundation for all the sessions. If you want to use a prayer time as part of your weekly meeting, Dick Meyer's books One Anothering (volumes 1 and 2) have many examples of presenting prayer in a non-threatening way.
I have borrowed the title of this article from a small booklet, given to me by a friend several decades ago. Those of us in my church who have been a part of our Lenten series have gotten to know members of our church family in a new way at this special time of the year.
We value and celebrate the temporary time we have had together.
Note: If you have questions or need more details, please contact the author.
Mary Jane is Chairman, Small Groups Committee, St. Andrew United Methodist Church, New Berlinville PA. She is a member, Eastern PA FAW team, newly married to FAW board member, Paul Lentz.