"Take what we do and adjust it to fit the culture at your church."
As we resource other church leaders through WiredChurches, this is a statement that gets repeated often. People aren't "one size fits all" and neither are churches. We practice what we preach.
Turning Point is our group ministry that fills the needs provided through typical support group models. While it's not typical, it works for us. Because it's not typical, we've had to invest considerable time programming content that works for us.
There are four basic components that we pull from.
The first is Boundaries. The book is the suggested reading to accompany the group experiences, and they have a DVDbased curriculum, Groupware, to accompany it.
The second one we look to are DVD's from Nooma. They're well done and just plain effective to communicate a solid message in about 10 minutes of programming time.
After that, we go to the teachers that our people love most - their pastors! The media content that we pull from our weekend teaching is a solid way for our people to hear the same message in our group ministry as they do in our church: People matter to God.
The final piece we use is from our own counseling ministry. We integrate some tools that I use in counseling sessions as ways for people to gain greater insight into their behavior. Turning Point is a critical element of our counseling strategy. About 30% of the people who attend Turning Point have met with me for an individual counseling session.
Life change doesn't come from content. Life changes happens in relationship. Relationship is primary. Content is secondary. It's a critical perspective to maintain in this process. People don't care what you know until they know that you care.
healing comes from a little knowledge, some time & relationships! LOVE this post!
Posted by: heather | September 24, 2008 at 02:47 PM
Kathy, you have a great blog! Seriously a wealth of resources. Keep up the great work!
Posted by: Dan Vukmirovich | September 26, 2008 at 09:43 PM
Kathy, you have a great blog! Seriously a wealth of resources. Keep up the great work!
Posted by: Dan Vukmirovich | September 26, 2008 at 09:46 PM