Sunday Evening Basketball

After moving into our new church we were no longer able to have Sunday evening service so we felt like we needed to fill the void with something that wasn't demanding. We had tried home fellowship groups, but with a church our size (less than 100 members) it was nearly impossible. We were grasping for straws when someone came across the book "Dog Training, Fly Fishing, And Sharing Christ In The 21st Century Empowering Your Church To Build Community Through Shared Interests".

Ted Haggard presents a successful and tested model for a small group ministry here that can be implemented by a church of any size. By enabling members to embrace and capitalize on their own unique abilities, the diverse groups create an environment where people meet mentors that can disciple and guide them. This need-and interest based approach redefines the model for powerful church growth.

In the first few chapters he explains why American Home Fellowship Groups tend not to be as successful as their Communist and Socialist counterparts. Places that were formerly ruled with an iron fist take better to Home Fellowship Groups because each meeting is tightly regimented. Let's face it, free enterprise American minds just don't work that way. We like being able to associate freely, talk about what we want, and do as we dang well please.

The book advises people to create groups where people have a shared interest. In my church the ladies came up with "scrap-booking", which I stay clear of, others started computer groups, while my friend and I started a basketball group.

On the court, guys are real. It's here that competition is out in the open, tensions flare, and jokes can be made without offending the ladies. I've taught and witnessed on that court more than any other place. Guys won't open up in a restaurant under the watchful eye of their wives, but on the court they open up. I've spoken at length with new converts, new members, backsliders, those offended by ministers and preachers, and guys who hadn't spoken more than 10 words in 3 years.

It's well worth read.


E-mail Sean at 99blogger@ninetyandnine.com