Last night the group that was formerly called “The Group” met again at the usual location. We had been given a major amount of fish to eat from a Shane my friend whose wife had the prem baby, the fish was given in appreciation for our groups ministry to them.
I had been in Margaret River during the day so I picked up a nice red and some callamari for the night.
Wayne, Matt’s neighbour came in and joined us for a while, had a sausage (kids meals) and chatted with Graeme and I amongst others for ages. It was so natural, I mean it should be, but I have never run a small group in which my neighbour could just drop in and join us!
Over our sit down dinner (the fish feast!) we discussed faith, mission, and we even had some moments in which we paused and reflected on the great sacrifice Christ made for us on the cross, we toasted Him and gave him thanks for all he did and made comment of our longing for his return (in other words we had communion!)
Matt and some of the guys continued some serious chats outside while I lead a time of sharing about the ‘salt and light’ factor in our group and how we have been and want to continue serving our friends and neighbours.
I am still wanting to do the kids ministry better and not just stick em in a room with a dvd. But we will work on this – it’s only week 3!
Although what we have is not a church but rather just a healthy expression of mission in community attached to a local church (some call them home groups, life groups etc etc) I thought this blog that was passed on to me was similar to what we do only in a small local church context…and it’s blogged!
Click on one of the links and have a read. It’s kind of funny because I mentioned our group starting our own blog to place reports and comments like this on our own site, seperate to mine or Matts blogs. The idea may need some warming to at the group, but…maybe after reading this one, you might like the idea.
It was a great night, some can’t get enough of it and were hanging around here at my place today after fruit and veg shopping together, I know my oldest daughter liked the company she had her hair braided by our visitor – EVE! I love IT!
Photos to follow.
No Guarantees 
we had a ball last night too. 16 adults and 18 kids is no mean feat, but it really worked well, in a celabratory “feast” kind of way. i like the idea of protecting these kind of gatherings so that people of all ages can interact and enjoy each other, but i also think there is scope for adding other ideas for gathering which formalise some “adult” time. i look forward to continuing the journey.
PS – where ever you got that calamari from, you’ve gotta get some more. that chilli, garlic and soy sauce marinade you cooked them in was supurb.
PPS – just got back from having a barbie dinner with our neighbours (hubby dropped in last night during group). W & J are lovely people with 3 great kids. they also invited another couple over who they’ve been friends with for years. the conversation flowed easily and the company was delightful. sharing stories of lives lived in the same geographic vicinity really added more of a sense of true community than just individual linear relations. i liked it alot.
ciao
this all sounds a lot like life as we hope it would be!
Would be interested in talking more with the two of you about how you see things unfolding
Sounds good. I was challenged about ‘where it was going’ last night in an email. I feel that I am being conservative about it. There are lots of people outside the group asking me, “is this some covert church plant?”. How long will it be a Whitford Life Group etc.
I can honestly say that it began as a life group from my church and it will always remain as such. I feel it would lack integrity if I had invited these guys to join my group with a hidden agenda. All I wanted for the group was explained openly on the first night. We will explore faith, evangelism, life, missional community and organic church openly and honestly in the context of our group, but as the group is, it will remain – conected to the mothership.(I say that affectionately not cynically) If any people in the group decide to start another small group, leave the church, start a church, go to another church that is between them and the Lord (and hopefully our group as they share their journey in that), we will not be encouraging this, nor would we discourage this if it was of the Lord, I know the church leadership would not discourage anything of God either). I want an open forum where people can discuss anything with no fear of being judged or condemned or shot down for their differing views on anything. I for one do love my church with all it’s weaknesses. I may be there forever, I may leave next week…God’s call.