Small group

Lent re-thought

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

I am excited about Lent this year…not to say that I haven’t been any other year, but this year is going to be different.

At the Belmont Lutheran Church (the small county congregation I also serve) annual meeting on Sunday we decided to try something new for Lent.  For our Wednesday Lenten services we have been averaging around 10 per week.  So for a while now I have been pondering the future of these services.
–Do I need to re-think what we do on Wednesdays?
–Do we need to change the time of the worship?
–Do we need to change the location (share a service with Salem in town)?
–Or what?

Well…on Sunday I offered an idea that I heard from our Methodist friends down the street.  Instead of Wednesday evening Lenten services what about having home cottage meetings on Tuesday nights?

Are you intrigued…then allow me to elaborate…

What Belmont decided to do is meet in someone’s home on Tuesdays during Lent at 6:30pm.  We will gather together in a circle and have a time of worship/devotions (I am not sure how this will look yet).  The bulk of the time will be devoted to some teaching.  I envision this to be a cross between a sermon and a Bible study.  I will do the majority of the teaching but allow for questions, feedback or discussion.  People can come and just sit and listen or get involved…it’s up to them.  After we are done there will be some refreshments and fellowship time.  The thinking is that this will be a more intimate setting and thus more attractive to people.

I am not sure what the topic will be; whether I will do a series in a particular book of the Bible, some aspect of Jesus life or whatever.  The idea was suggested that I use the topic from the Lenten small group that I will be leading called “The Seven Wonders of God’s Word” from Augsburg Fortress.  That idea intrigues me so I am going to explore that as well.

So I am excited about this new thing we are about to do (I will post updates here during Lent).  I am not sure how it will be received.  My hope is that the home we meet in won’t be big enough, but we’ll see what happens.  But in the end we need to remember that where 2 or 3 are gathered there is Jesus right there in the midst of them.  So either way we will praise God.

-edh-

Being challenged and stretched

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

These past few weeks have been a lot of fun.

Wednesday, January 5 we started a small group study/sermon series on Old Testament stories.  The format is that a group would gather on Wednesdays at 5pm to read and discuss an Old Testament story and then I would preach on that story the following Sunday.  Up to this point we have talked about: The creation story, Noah and Abraham.  The Old Testament stories that are coming up in our study are: Joseph, Moses, The book of Judges, David, Daniel and The book of Job.  This small group is scheduled to end right before Ash Wednesday.  I wasn’t exactly sure how this study would be received but so far there is a group of 5 people getting together every week and we are having a great time exploring these stories.

I don’t come each week prepared to lecture on the story but rather I have a couple questions in mind.  The group then takes those questions and a fun discussion ensues.  I have learned a lot from hearing different perspectives.  I have learned a lot about the faith of the group participants.  I have heard questions that I have never thought of before.  And…maybe…gained a couple pounds (one of the participants is an excellent cook and baker and has been bringing treats for us).

There is nothing quite like gathering with a group of people to read, study and discuss scripture.  I have read these stories many times but hearing from others has challenged me in ways that I would not be able to do on my own.  I can hardly wait to see what is coming next.

-edh-