Dear all,

As promised in my previous update, I am going to share with you some of my thoughts about Workers’ Group next year.

An Intractable Problem

Remember the intractable problem from last year? (If not, go back to the Structure presentation from our retreat last year.) Because of various circumstances, we did not have small group leaders this year. Instead we have to go by with the reporting person structure.

We face a similar problem next year. Although a number of people indicated that they will be available to lead small groups next year, the numbers are still smaller than what I would have preferred. I would have preferred to have 4 groups next year, to be led by 1 or 2 leaders each.

Given that many of us are already involved in other ministry groups, the situation is likely to continue for some time yet. And so we will need some creative options to deal with this. A couple that have been raised with me are below.

Option: Big Group-isation (almost)

The first option involves moving to a small group structure back to a “big group” structure like Team χ or UG. We set a time for everybody to meet up, then divide into groups (depending on attendance on the day) to do Bible studies.

This is the most “efficient” from a resource perspective. However, it means that you may be meeting different people each time around, which may not be good for developing deep, long-term relationships. And chances are we will not be able to find a time that will suit everybody, given the busy lives we all live.

Option: Crowded House (almost)

Another option is to stick with having 3 groups next year instead of having 4. This means that we need less leaders (which we should be able to accommodate), and we are able to retain the good things about having small groups. But it means that if more people come and join (or you bring friends along), there is a danger that the groups would get crowded. I would prefer not to have any more than 12 people in a group.

What do you think?

I would like to know what you think about these options. Pop me an e-mail, put a comment below (logged in users only), or just talk to me. Let’s close this on Friday 15 June 2007.

I’m particularly interested if you have an idea about other options that can be explored.

Please pray

Please pray for Workers’ Group. It’s not easy and I am struggling on what to do. Pray that God would guide us through this process so that we may glorify him as we meet as an assembly, as a household and as an association.

Kelvin