Creating Community

As small group leaders, you play an important role in how people experience community at Cornerstone.

There’s a book on my “small group resource” shelf called Creating Community: 5 Keys to Building a Small Group Culture. The promise seems to be that if we can only figure out the right strategies, the right icebreakers, if we can only find the right curriculum and the right people, then we can create this amazing vision called community...

Is that really the case? Can we actually create community? What can we learn about community through the early church?

The gospels actually end showing Jesus’ disciples to be cowardly and weak in their faith and conviction. So how did the early church community get started with these leaders? It happened at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and empowered these leaders.

I’m reading a book by Scot McKnight called One Life and in it he writes this about community and the Holy Spirit:

The Spirit whispers community wherever the Spirit goes. Where there is community, there is Spirit. Where there is no community, there is no Spirit. The Spirit brings love, justice and peace – for all in the community. In fact, it takes God’s Spirit to create community because we, no matter how hard we try, we are unloving, unjust and unpeaceful. We need the Spirit to live in community... Community emerges because the Spirit is designed to draw us to God and to one another into a fellowship and community.

I was challenged this morning about how little I’ve been trusting the Spirit to lead and guide me. (I can have a tendency to try making things happen with my own strength and knowledge.) I get busy with lots of things to do. I think I know how to do it, but is that really the case?

Only the Spirit can bring about lasting impact, only the Spirit can change your heart, only the Spirit can create community.

Why don’t you take a moment now to pray for a fresh anointing of the Spirit’s enabling power in your life and ministry?

2011 a year in review and looking ahead to 2012!

Hi,

It's hard to believe Christmas is only a few days away! How ironic that this season can be the time we "crowd out" Jesus the most with all our holiday plans, shopping trips and get-togethers. I know I've been guilty of this! Been making an effort though to spend extended times with Jesus in the morning to restore my tired soul and prepare me to serve Him during the day.

Praying for You!
How is your soul doing? Is it frantic, worried, tired? Is it content, rested, at peace?

Prayed for each of you this morning that the Holy Spirit would fill you afresh with His power and enable you to enter into this season with a worshipful heart!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Small Group Highlights for the Year!
God's been doing some exciting things in our small groups at Cornerstone! Some highlights include:

* Turbo Training Group attended by 6 potential leaders! (4 of them are serving as leaders in their respective groups/ministries.)
* 2 new small groups!
* Over 20 people who have connected with new small groups or as "open chair" members!
* 9 Semester Groups offered this year!
* Spring Small Group Leader Retreat (with guest spiritual director).
* Fall Small Group Leader BBQ Kick-off
* VHS is now TRANSFORM
* Exploring the idea of "Missional Small Groups" Together during Transform gatherings

What to Look Forward to in 2012!
Small Group Visits I'd like to visit and meet up with each one of your small groups in the coming year! It will give us a good time to connect, pray and celebrate what God is doing in your groups. I'd like to know how I can support you to be all that God wants you to be.

PLUS, I'd also like to take some time to share with you and have dialogue about "Missional Small Groups". This will be a key goal for our small group ministries in the coming year and will require our prayers and conversations together.

Exploring "Missional Small Groups" in our Transform GatheringsWe will continue to spend time in our Transform Gatherings exploring and sharing about "Missional Small Groups". This will include learning about the three key missional rhythms of group life: 1) Missional communion with God; 2) Missional relating with others; 3) Missional engagement with the world. We will also look at 21 practices that relate to these three missional rhythms. We'll also begin to think and experiment together how we can begin to live this reality out in our lives and in our communities.

Thanks for your faithful service and may the coming year of ministry be our best one yet!
Merry Christmas!

Jeremy
www.cornerstonesmallgroups.blogspot.com

Small Group Serving Opportunity

Hi Leaders,

Serving together as a group is a great way to live out our faith by blessing others. It's also a fun time of building memories as a group! At Cornerstone, we have always "strongly encouraged" our small groups to take initiative and serve in outreach projects together.

Serving OpportunityThe Five with Drive (www.5wd.ca) Warehouse is looking for volunteers for their Local Food Bank Program. These volunteers would help out in a variety of tasks including: unloading a vehicle with food/toys; sorting & packing food/toys; re-organizing the warehouse; stock counting; recycling/making boxes; and other small chores.

One small group from Cornerstone participated in this event last year and there were many encouraging and life-transforming stories of seeing people (and the world) more through God's eyes. Through their service and obedience, God used this experience for those group members to work in their hearts and in the small group in powerful faith-stretching ways!

Dates
These are some of the dates you have to choose from: Dec 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 19-23. During these times, clients will be coming in to the warehouse to pick-up items.

Location
The warehouse is located at 105 Gibson Rd. in Markham (Warden and Steeles)

Children
While the children aren't allowed to be in the warehouse for insurance purposes, there is a children's room stocked with construction paper, crayons, books, as well as a TV equipped with DVD player. A volunteer(s) from the small group should be assigned to watch the children.

Please talk about this opportunity with your small group and prayerfully consider participating. You can contact Anna Rossi if you're interested or have any questions - jrarossi@hotmail.com.


Thanks.

Jeremy
www.cornerstonesmallgroups.blogspot.com

Beyond "Normal"

By definition, “normal” is common, typical and expected. It conforms to a standard. Many small groups in North America are “normal”. Eight to twelve people meet regularly to study the Bible, share, pray together. Often group members meet socially for dinner or a movie or a summer picnic at the beach. Often group members serve the community together through an outreach project or a church initiative.

Nothing’s wrong with normal per se. Many of us would be so happy to have a group experience like that. (Wouldn’t you be thrilled if all your group members even just attended all the meetings?) God has done many great things in groups like these throughout the history of Cornerstone and the Church.

But what if God didn’t create us to be “normal”? What if our experience in community and small groups was to be so much more than what we’ve been experiencing?

Is it possible that there’s more beyond “normal”?

• Is it possible that our curriculum (as good as it is) can actually get in the way of group members “doing life” together?

• Is it possible that meetings can run smoothly (and as planned) but we still miss out on experiencing Jesus’ presence in our group or even forget to check in with Him?

• Is it possible that even with church and small group attendance, our lives and priorities and relationships still look much like those of non-Christians?

• Is it possible that we can do all the “right” things in our groups but still miss out on the life transformation God wants us to experience?

• Is it possible that God has actually designed the quality of our small group experience to impact and bless and attract our neighbours and those around us?

This year at Cornerstone, our Small Groups Leader community will be exploring what it means to go Beyond “Normal” in our experience and thinking of small groups. Through conversations, training, prayer, studies, experiments, etc. we’ll seek God’s vision for biblical community and be encouraged and resourced to take that next step in our leadership and in our small groups.

Please keep this in your prayers and ask that God would lead us closer to discovering and experiencing what it means to live in biblical community.

Looking forward to going on this journey with you.

Jeremy

Why not attend our Praise & Prayer gatherings with your small group?

Over the years, many people have expressed a desire to get together outside of Sunday services to sing and praise God together.

This year we've decided to hold quarterly Praise & Prayer evenings. We want to create these "spaces" to encounter God through worship and prayer!

Why not encourage your small group to attend together?

The Friday evenings we've set aside are:

• February 18th (Cancelled)
• May 27th
• August 19th
• November 18th

What to do with the children during small group meetings?

Are there children in your small group? What are some ways you've tried to run your small group meetings with kids?

Cornerstone has a high children to adult ratio based on Sunday attendance (approx. 1/3 of the attendance is made up of children). More and more small groups are trying to figure out ways to handle the children situation in small group meetings.

Do we provide childcare for them? Do we offer a separate "program" for them? Do we incorporate them into our group meetings?

There is no "perfect" solution. What you decide will depend on a lot of factors like the comfort/preference of parents, the number/age of the children, the dynamics of your group, etc. There will be advantages and disadvantages to every idea which you and your group will have to weigh in on. You may even need to try a few and tweak them before you end up with a solution that works.

Here are some childcare ideas

• Alternate men and women meetings. On one week the men meet while the women take care of the children, then switch. Add a joint meeting where men and women meet together at the end of the month.
• Have children play together in another part of the house unattended.
• Hire a babysitter and have kids play at a nearby location.
• Rotate small group members to handle childcare (on-site or off-site).

Here are some resources for children's programs or incorporating them into small group meetings

• VeggieTales videos or What's In The Bible videos (www.whatsinthebible.com)
• Books, games, puzzles, colouring and craft activities
• Small group study that features separate complementary study for children (requires children's facilitator) - www.lifeway.com/sgl
• Family small group study that includes children -www.saddlebackresources.com/en-US/SmallGroups/BooksoftheBible/LessonsforFamiliesfromGenesis.htm
• Family Small Group DVD studies (poor quality) - www.smallgroupsmaterials.com

Please comment on your experiences with children in your groups. Also, what ideas have you tried that have worked well or not so well?

The end of an era, the beginning of a new one...

Last Friday our small group celebrated our last small group meeting. While it marks an end to our amazing 6 year run as a group and while we won't be meeting with this same group that has become "family", it's also the beginning of many exciting new things!

I'd been said that a characteristic of a great thing is that you want to share it with others. This could describe our experience of community life together. In answer to our prayers, God has raised up multiple leaders from within our group who have expressed a passion and desire for wanting those not connected with a small group to experience community for themselves. And so after much discussion and prayer, this fall our small group will be birthing into 3 groups and will welcome more people into the circle of community!

As we plan for the exciting opportunities ahead, it was also a time for our group to celebrate what God has been doing in our lives. Over dinner, we shared our fondest memories of doing life together over the years. Later, each person got to sit on the "hot seat" while members of our group had the opportunity to express how they've been blessed and encouraged by that person.

We celebrated God's goodness as we remembered how the rlationships in our group played such an important role in the steps of faith and commtiment people have made in their spiritual journey over the years.

How people who only occasionally attended Cornerstone decided to "go all out" for Jesus - including the decisions to get baptized, serve actively in various ministries, even serve on various missions trips. How when people were at their lowest point, they found encouragement, support and prayer from the brothers and sisters in the group to go on. How the example of faith others demonstrated in their lives inspired other group members in their own journey. How we celebrated new births, career changes, weddings, and house moves together. How our group served the community in different ways.

It was a late night with laughter, tears and reminiscing over fond memories and stories. As the 3 new small groups move forward, we know the goal isn't to "replicate" the same experience we've had. But our experience has given us the confidence that God changes and transforms lives in the context of loving and accountable relationships. We're excited about what God will do in htis next season of life and how he will continue to transform even more lives. And isn't that what community's about?