A variety of GROW group leaders tell us how they plan to wrap up their year purposely:
Count my blessings: will remember one of our members, a new believer who joined the group and admitted he was struggling, but several weeks later shared how the fellowship, prayers, confession, and support from the group encouraged him, strengthened him and reaffirmed him. This in turn encouraged me and strengthened my faith! Talk about iron sharpening iron!!
We plan to finish with a barbecue and discuss where we go from here, commit to staying in contact to maintain the bond of unity, share prayer requests and praises.
–Dave/Mary Cole
We will finish our study and then have another get together for a bar-b-Q. I always finish with everyone reflecting on what they feel God worked in their lives this year and what they feel is being laid upon their hearts for the future. We will also meet a few times over the summer for bar-b-Q’s and catching up.
–Eric Nilson
We decided to keep meeting during the summer, with game nights, bbq’s, etc. once a month.
–Bryan/Carol Dunfee
We are planning on staying connected through the summer via activities like visiting parks with the kids and going camping.
-Brad Johnson
We will be having an end of the year picnic the first week in June to bring closure to the year.
–Wade Koglin
We are studying Revelations and nobody wants to stop for the summer, so we will keep meeting and having 1.5 hours of fellowship
–Jane and Joe Kassuba
We plan to “end” our LARGE small group class by having a fellowship potluck wherein we will share communion and will ask people to share one or two of the most important things God communicated to them through the class, and how they plan to apply them to their lives. We believe that the time of reflection on the class, to identify the one or two personal highlights and action items, will be of good “terminal” value to their having participated in the class.
–Jane and Jim Hansen
Our small group is focusing the remainder of the year on being transparent with one another. A challenge that I hope we take on this summer is connecting ourselves with the people around us. A big part of making connections is living transparent instead of under a mask of who weʼd like people to see us as. The easiest way to make connections is to simply ask ourselves, do we stop to talk to a neighbor working out in their yard? Do we know our neighbors’ names? Can we break out of our comfort zone to hold a neighborhood barbecue at our home on the 4th of July? Itʼs amazing how many opportunities open up just when we unplug out of our busy lives to do the work Christ called us to do by loving, listening and praying for our neighbors. Have an awesome summer!
–Eric/Chris Stephan
We are going to end with a BBQ to thank/serve everyone for being so gracious to us during our first year as small group leaders.
We will also be sharing how the Cross and the Gospel has changed our lives this year and we’ll answer this question of ourselves:
My love for Jesus has ______________ this year?
a) grown hotter
b) grown colder
c) stayed the same
–Scott/Erica Wagoner
