the future
Small group vision
This diagram shows a number of small groups and alive and kicking, each meeting separately but coming together to share and worship. Many of the small group members may attend alive and kicking regularly as well as the main event. Some of the small groups may have connections with other groups. For example, if there is a small group based on child care or working with children they might like to help run J-Team.
It is important that the project is well connected with the rest of the church. It is hoped that some of the small groups might be able to contribute to the worship of the other congregations in Kinver. We also hope that members of the established congregations might feel comfortable joining us at the main event where we will be able to share together and worship.
Combinations of small groups might be able to put on one-off events helping to bring everyone together including the church congregations in the village and the wider community.
We are hoping that the network of groups and events will provide a base for schools work and outreach to feed into. Some small groups may be able to contribute to the curriculum on offer in the schools.
Event
This event is designed to tie the whole project together, providing a meeting point for everyone involved. This could happen in a variety of formats and the important features are much the same as those across the rest of the project: worshipping God and sharing community and church.This part of the work will also provide a safe space into which we and the young people can invite others and from which they can find out about other areas of the project.
Everyone and anyone will always be welcome to this part of the project!
alive and kicking
alive and kicking will continue to run much as it does at the moment, providing a point of consistency as small groups evolve, grow and change. It will also provide a regular group for anyone uninterested in the small groups on offer.alive and kicking will be involved in the main event much like all the small groups.
Small groups
Each small group will be based around an activity or interest exploring how we can use our gifts in a way that pleases God. One of the main focuses will be building authentic Christian community (aka church) and creating a safe space to share and support each other. Different groups may last for different lengths of time, some running indefinitely and others running for the duration of a project before reforming to start on something else. To prevent the work from becoming bitty all groups will be included in an event which brings everyone together. We hope that this, alongside alive and kicking will provide the consistency needed to maintain relationships with the young people when small groups stop or change.We also hope that each small group will provide an environment to which young people and leaders feel comfortable inviting other young people and thus engaging in outreach.
Wider church
We hope very much that the wider church will want to be involved in this project and can see many ways that this could happen. We hope that members of the two established congregations will join us at the new event where everyone gets together to share. This will provide a great opportunity for the young people to come to know more of the church members in the village and for the church members to come to know the young people. We also hope to be able to encourage congregational participation in the small groups but need to work out how this fits with our safeguarding policy. It is also important that these groups remain focused on the young people. Additionally, the two churches could start their own network of small groups alongside these more youth focused groups, joining in with the shared activities and the regular gatherings.
Whilst all of the groups will be different there are some common features to them all. They will all be focused on God, exploring how we can worship Him, please Him and glorify Him with the gifts He has given us. They will all be seeking to create a safe space for the young people who attend, building community and enabling us to form valuable relationships for the benefit of the young people. And they will all be exploring what it means to be church (Christians coming together to share and worship).
So that the groups don't become isolated all the groups will be involved in an event which brings everyone together (including members form the two established churches in the village) to share with each other in worship and fellowship.
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