Creating a culture of small groups

In our culture (meaning North Baltimore), it is normal to go to Church. Not everyone goes to Church on a regular basis, but it is not considered abnormal to go and most people in our community have in their self-image as a Church going person. In this community it is also normal to volunteer. I think if you took a poll of people in Timonium and the surrounding area, most people would say it is good to volunteer and they try to volunteer through coaching, or helping at school or whatever. So when we ask people to do volunteer ministry at Church, people can see that as normal. It is in the framework in which people in this community view themselves.

Small groups are different. They are a complete paradigm shift. People in this community saw their parents go to Church and see many people volunteer, but groups are by nature in homes and private, not public. We are working this year to show the great benefits of groups and that very busy people carve out time for their small group because it is worth it.

One of our efforts to show that busy people are in small group is by giving out FREE t-shirts to anyone in a Nativity small group. This offer is good for the first 200 people who sign up. The catch is that we ask you to wear them to Church the weekends of September 11 and 12 through October 2 and 3. This in preparation for our Launch on October 4, our program to get new people into groups. We are still getting specs on the t-shirt, but I promise it will look good.

If you are interested in helping promote groups, please go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/sgtshirts. There are three quick questions to fill in so we can get you the right shirt.