I am looking into curriculum choices for our Clarity Church summer series of small groups.
The intent of small groups is to offer a way to build connections between members of Christ’s family and allow us to go deeper into relationship with Christ as we build relationships with each other. Additionally, if we can offer something compelling to the believer and non-believer alike, we have the opportunity to share Christ’s love with those outside of our family and reach out to our communities and those disconnected from our Lord. As scripture says:
… let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another… – Hebrews 10:24-25
Current options I am looking into and recommending to the staff:
- Alpha Course curriculum. – Anyone have any experience or feedback with this material or organization?
- Pro: Established course geared toward building an understanding of the Christian world view.
- Con: Been having issues getting in touch with anyone from Alpha Course. (Website, email, etc. have all been down.) So I am worried about support and materials acquisition.
- Set Free – This is something I remember from growing up in Christ at EFCC.
- Pro: Again, it’s established and known, at least in So. Cal and especially within the EFCC family of churches.
- Con: Not sure if this is something we have the resources for in a new church.
- Men’s Fraternity – Always a favorite of mine. I truly believe that building Christian families needs to start with building up Godly, Christian men.
- Pro: Established, Material is plentiful. works in larger AND smaller group settings.
- Con: Need a set place to host this. Length, probably too long for a summer series (20+ weeks)
- Love & War: Finding the marriage you dreamed of. – Really fun (and good too) series on marriage matters.
- Pro: Good series, not too long. Fits perfectly with our Marriage Matters series. We already have the video materials.
- Con: May already have another marriage series in the curriculum.
— Edit and notes —
The folks at Alpha are back in touch so we will give them a once over for fall.
New on deck is the Focus On the Family’s: The Truth Project: “True U” Series. This starts with “Does God Exist? Building the scientific case“
Also New is the Max Lucado book, Facing Your Giants. Why? 1) it has a study guide and it can go for up to 19 lessons. 2) It speaks to life’s challenges, and right now I am having a lot of them.
— End Edit and notes —
I am still taking suggestions for other ministry options as well as comments on the above. Let me know what you think.
Thanks for reading. May God bless your week.
May Jesus have His way with your day
He is Founder and consultant for Tek Management,
Founder of the Men’s Leadership site: CalebStrong.org,
Co-Founder of the online Bible study app: BibleCounts
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