One of the essential elements of starting well in your group is the exercise of having everyone share their life story. However, for some, if not many in your group, this can be daunting, scary, unknown territory. Below are a number of tips and additional helps in walking you/them through this. 1. Do it! You … Continue reading Sharing Your Story
Multi-dimensional Group Life Pt 1
The shift toward 3D programming seems to be the current rage in movies and even TV technology. Whether in video games, movies, or TV, the goal of developers is to make the experience more realistic—more like the real thing. We view and experience the world in three dimensions, so why would anyone want to watch … Continue reading Multi-dimensional Group Life Pt 1
Breaking Down Walls Pt. 2
This is part two of a series on the practice of confession in your community group. If you haven’t already, click here to read Part 1.. Defining Confession While confession has a number of facets and unique expressions in Scripture, at its most base level, confession means: to be in agreement with God; to take … Continue reading Breaking Down Walls Pt. 2
Bonhoeffer on Confession
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together In confession the break-through to community takes place. Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more … Continue reading Bonhoeffer on Confession
Breaking Down Walls Pt. 1
Think about the last time someone made of confessed of sin in your community group meeting. What was the reaction by you and the group? What did it do to the feel of the group dynamic? If you’re still trying to remember a time confession happened in your group, you’re not alone. Let’s be honest, … Continue reading Breaking Down Walls Pt. 1
Saying the Hard Word…Pt. 2
As a leader you will at some point encounter a situation in which you have to say the hard word. That’s part of the task of leadership and an inevitable reality in group life. Building on the principle of balancing truth and grace laid out in Pt. 1 of Saying the Hard Word let’s take … Continue reading Saying the Hard Word…Pt. 2
Saying the Hard Word…Pt. 1
One of the most remarkable descriptors of Jesus Christ is that He came “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). What is so remarkable about the very nature of Christ is that it is so unlike our human nature. Everyone, including us Christians, tend to lean in either the “grace” camp or the “truth” camp. … Continue reading Saying the Hard Word…Pt. 1
Transparent Leadership: The Power of Sharing Stories Pt. 2
Contributions from Barb Condra (CG Leader) Read Part 1 in this series HERE. The most common single type of writing in the Bible is narrative...story.* There’s obviously something profound about sharing story, if God chose to use this as one of the primary ways of revealing himself to us. If your group members have never … Continue reading Transparent Leadership: The Power of Sharing Stories Pt. 2
Experience Speaks: How sharing stories changed our group!
Contributions from Mendy Wilson (CG Leader) Sharing my story meant opening up and being vulnerable with our group members. Sharing my story also meant taking down any facade or walls of protection that I may have put up. What a scary thought! These ladies were seeing the real me, both the pretty & the ugly. … Continue reading Experience Speaks: How sharing stories changed our group!
Transparent Leadership: The Power of Sharing Stories Pt. 1
Contributions from Barb Condra (CG Leader) Several years ago Pleasant Valley started encouraging people to share their life story to emphasize the application of a sermon. These stories always made a powerful impression on everyone present. At about the same time we had a new couple join our class and as I got to know … Continue reading Transparent Leadership: The Power of Sharing Stories Pt. 1
PV GROUP LIFE 