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ChristCare Series Banner
Price: $79.95
Pass the Word Packet
Beginnings: A ChristCare Group Experience Group Member Guide
Beginnings: A ChristCare Group Experience Leader Guide
Spiritual Growth through Spiritual Gifts Group Leader Set
Price: $19.95
Nurturing the Vision
for ChristCare
What does a great small group ministry look like after it's been a vital part of a congregation for more than a decade?
Maybe a lot like ChristCare Small Group Ministry at Messiah Lutheran Church at Eagle Creek in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mary Lenz, ChristCare Equipper and group leader at Messiah, notes that ChristCare has made a great difference in the congregation. "Visitors often comment on what a friendly church this is," she said.
"Our ChristCare Groups even helped us get through a difficult time when our church was without a pastor."
For the past ten years Mary has helped lead this ministry at Messiah. "When our pastor and another Equipper returned from the Equipper's Training Course (ETC), they recruited me to be part of the first ChristCare Group Leader training class," Mary said. "The next year I went to an ETC and was trained as an Equipper."
Mary serves on Messiah's Equippers Team and over the years has also co-led ChristCare Groups with her husband, Jim. Messiah has three active Equippers, as well as the pastor--also a trained Equipper--who serves in an advisory role.
Recruiting ChristCare Group Leaders
Mary and Jim Lenz
Finding people with the gifts and the passion to lead small groups is part of the reason for Messiah's success.
Many of Messiah's new group leaders come from existing ChristCare Groups. "Group leaders regularly identify those within their group who can lead a group," Mary said. "Each group leader guides and mentors these apprentice group leaders, giving them leadership responsibilities and experience. They ask apprentices who will make good group leaders to take the ChristCare Group Leader training."
Messiah's Equippers also help identify congregation members with the gifts to lead ChristCare Groups. "We personally invite them to consider becoming a group leader," Mary said. "We let the congregation know that we're looking for group leaders. And we pray, asking God for more great leaders."
Birthing and Forming New Groups
Messiah's Equippers encourage the developing of new groups so ChristCare can continue to grow.
"We emphasize the importance of intentional closure and birthing new groups," Mary said. "After groups are formed, they experience the eight-week Beginnings1 course." The groups then covenant to stay together for a specific time and plan what their group will accomplish. As groups add more people, eventually they have so many members that they need to birth into two new groups.
"Group leaders prepare their groups for birthing from the very beginning," Mary said. ChristCare Group Leaders and members invite new people to join the group and experience the spiritual and personal growth they've found. When the group grows too large to be a "small group," the group gradually prepares for birthing and for ending the original group. "We've seen over and over again how this process is a positive, powerful experience for groups," Mary said. "There may be tears, but these are good tears."
During training, ChristCare Group Leaders learn how to cast a vision for group growth and how to lead their groups through closure and birthing.
"Getting group members excited about being part of another group is so important," Mary said. "When groups birth, having the group form two new groups--both of which add some new members--helps both groups feel new and fresh. It's truly a new beginning for them--and allows them to invite more people once again."
Building Group Membership
Personal invitation is a powerful way to encourage others to be part of a ChristCare Group, and Messiah's Equippers and group leaders encourage members to invite and welcome others to their groups.
"I invited a couple who were new to our church to join our group," Mary said. "Recently they gave their personal testimony as part of our ChristCare Sunday.
"They thanked me for inviting them. They said that ChristCare has been the greatest experience of their lives."
Planting Seeds for ChristCare
Group Ministry in Other Congregations
Their positive experiences with ChristCare led Mary and Jim to plant the seeds for this ministry at another church--St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Evansville, Indiana, where Rev. Mitch Phillips, their son-in-law, was pastor.
"During the sermon time one Sunday, Jim and I shared about ChristCare," Mary said. "The church did enroll, and Mitch later attended the Equipper's Training Course."
Mitch is now a pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Indianapolis; ChristCare is also flourishing there. "Mitch is an Equipper," Mary said. "Our daughter is a ChristCare Group member. And when all of us get together, we love to talk about ChristCare."
1 Beginnings: A ChristCare Group Experience is the 8-week course that all ChristCare Groups go through to learn how to be a ChristCare Group. They build a covenant and experience the four ChristCare Group activities--community building and care, Biblical Equipping, prayer and worship, and missional service.
