There’s been a lot of talk lately about starting some sort of small group environment so that actionchurch folks can “do life” with people who are also interested in putting the teachings of Jesus into action.  People stop me nearly every Sunday morning to ask… it shows up in the questions and comments…in short- “demand” is building for something more than “just Sunday morning”.   I’m excited about what I am hearing.  From the  beginning we intended for there to be “actiongroups” that met outside of Sunday morning toallow people to build friendships, share their stories, serve their communities, take their relationships with God and others to a “whole nutha level”.

Tomorrow I’ll post the vision for what I think “actiongroups” should “look like”…but I want to take a few moments today first to let everyone “in” on what we will need to be able to start “small groups” at actionchurch.

One year ago, when we started out as a church we made a decision to wait 6 months to a year to start any small groups.  We wanted to wait for people to build relationships…build communitiy…for potential small group leaders to “appear”.   I think one year later those things are happening.  We will need more- but several people have expressed interest in leading groups in their homes…restaurants…and yes, bars.

What we need to “make this happen” is a “community organizer”  (Sorry President Obama is too busy).  We need someone to organize a system to match interested folks with small groups.  Someone to set up a small group “plan” so everyone is on the same page.  Someone to “visit” the various actiongroups and “inspect rather than expect”.   Someone to organize occassional “all play” events (Parties, bbq etc)  where we could all get to know each other better…and possibly discover an actiongroup that “fits” us personally.  The actionchurch “small group czar” will have to be one part manager, one part revolutionary leader, and one part “party planner”.  Someone able to put together a proposal based on our vision…present it for approval…and then execute it…without a lot of input or “hand holding”.

I’m not sure who our new “small group czar” is.  Everyone on our crew is operating at or way above “capacity”  We’re too busy now.   My “prime directive”  for myself and family is to take on LESS reponsibility in this second year of actionchurch.  Beyond that, I SUCK at  management and organization…so the thought of designing and administering a “system” makes me want to put a gun in my mouth :-)   I am certain that God has someone that is passionate about relationships…someone who “knows” about, or wants to learn how to run a small group system.  Someone who loves to organize “events” and parties.  Someone who wants to perform top level work for zero pay :-)   Is it you?  Will you pray with me that that person will “show up”?    

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.  More tomorrow…