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Monday, October 24, 2011

House to House

Last week, we hosted a gathering in our home to introduce some of our friends and acquaintances to our new Lead Pastor. When I first thought of hosting the 'meet and greet' at our home, I expected about 20-25 people to accept the invitation on each of two nights. (that would have been about 50% of invitations sent out.)
To my astonishment, 90% of those invited responded positively, resulting in two evenings of about 45 folks each night!
Aside from the long line of cars jamming the neighborhood, the event could not have been more encouraging. I have found that all people, but particularly those in a larger Church family absolutely love to be invited to your "home".
Home Groups have been part of our Church experience from Day 1, because those the interaction of 10-12 people makes any Church feel personal and real. Though we had four times that number, the conversations were free and dynamic.
Many folks had not met one another previously as they worshipped at different
times or locations. This made for a number of new connections and potential friendships going forward. After an hour of 'no agenda' I finally had to pull the folks together for a brief time of sharing; but the real benefit was in seeing how freely people engaged one another simply because they felt 'safe' and 'spontaneous'.
There is a real genius to this biblical pattern of 'meeting in Temple courts' (corporate worship) and 'house to house' (Acts 2). As we say around here,
"life-change" happens best in small groups; and let me just add, the best place
for a group is the home! (If you're not a group, why not try one this week?!)
Blessings.
Jay

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