St John's and ChristCare Groups

 

Have you ever asked yourself the following questions?

• How can I grow as a Christian?
• How is God calling me to serve Him and others?
• How can I get to know others at St. John's?
• How can I serve God and others outside of St John's?

Have you thought:

• St Johns is a large congregation, yet I feel alone.
• I wish I had a closer relationship with members of St. John's.
• I would like to find opportunities to Serve God meaningfully.
• I would like to know the Bible better.
• I would like to see St Johns reach out effectively to people in the community who have had no contact with a congregation.

If you have then there is hope.

On April 22nd, St Johns sent Pastor Ward, George Proto, Bob Knapp, Steve Jones and Mark Glass to an Equipper's Training Conference (ETC) in St. Louis, MO. ETC is held once a year for a week by Stephen Ministries in St Louis to train leaders to organize ChristCare group ministries in their congregations.

ChristCare Groups are gatherings of 5 to 12 people that meet to focus on four activites.

• Community building and care in which group members care for and support one another through the regular ups and downs of everyday life.
• Biblical Equipping is a life-transforming process in which ChristCare Group members follow an 8-step cycle of hearing, discussing, reflecting upon, and living the Scriptures, not only when they are together as a group, but between group meetings.
• Prayer and Worship by which the group worships God and group members grow in their ability to pray with and for one another.
• Missional Service by which the group reaches out with Christ's love to meet the needs of people outside the group.

The 5 day ETC divided St Johns five equippers into five separate ChristCare Groups. Group members numbered 8 people each from a different congregation. The groups experienced, in a very short period, a small group. The training included 1) building an Equippers team, 2) buiding a foundation for small groups in the congregation 3) training leaders for small groups 4) recruiting members for small groups and 5) formation of groups for supporting, encouraging and small group accountability (SEA groups).
Steve Jones' ChristCare Group
Pastor Ward's ChristCare Group at ETC

Mark's ChristCare Group


From left: Steve, Bob, Pastor Ward and George Proto meeting as Congregational Group at ETC

There were 150 people attending this years ETC from Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Evangelical and other Christian traditions from both Canada and the United States.

The equippers team is currently working on plans for starting ChristCare group ministry at St John's with an estimated start date of January 2008. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. Please keep Pastor, George, Bob, Steve and Mark in your prayers as they seek God's help and guidance for a successful ChristCaregroup ministry at St John's, Please pray for God's help in providing people who are willing to lead a ChristCare group.