GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHURCH
One of the challenges of building our church is that we all tend to be myopic when we think of church. In a relaxed atmosphere of a party, we have the opportunity to build our awareness that the Body of Christ of which we are a part includes other churches.
If you have been following the design, you have begun to break down those divisions through a series of small group conversations among teaching and ruling elders of three to five churches. Now you are inviting several of these groups to come together in a larger gathering. You will have to determine whether the geography of your presbytery permits this to be a party for the whole presbytery (ideal) or if it is still necessary to have more than one party to cover the presbytery. Geography may also determine whether this can be an evening, a Saturday, or a Sunday afternoon party.
SO YOU ARE PART OF MY CHURCH
Whatever you decide, this will be the first time for many of the elders to meet and become acquainted with elders from the other churches. Depending on the size of your gathering, you may need to form several small groups but clearly you want to make sure that the elders from any given church spread out and meet the elders from the other churches. You will also probably want to design the gathering so that the different groups reconfigure a couple of time to enable them to meet even more elders. It would also be nice if elders from different sizes of churches mixed together.
Each group might begin with introducing themselves, identifying the name and location of their church, and one or two strengths they see in the particular size and location of their church.
When all have shared, for a second round, have each respond to the following possibility: If Jesus were standing in this group, what is one creative ministry or witness that he might ask of us that would be strengthened by our working together? Out of the several possibilities mentioned, have the group identify two or three that they find most interesting.
FOOD FOR THE SOUL
Break for a dessert and some conversation and then have them form new groups with at least several people whom they have not met. A way to facilitate this would be to mark places in the room and then have people move to new locations for their next meeting.
In the new group, have them introduce themselves and share either a positive idea that they have heard in the churches working together or one way in which they think God might be speaking to them as elders at this meeting.
Have the group also discuss the basic elements that they think should be a regular part of each church’s prayer life over the next year.
Bring the total group together as one group. Allow for some spontaneous comments from those present based on their experience in this gathering.
Close with a devotional (perhaps on Ephesians 4:1-6) some prayer and singing.
You may want to also comment on the future possibilities both for the small group gatherings and for presbytery wide gatherings.
