What About Childcare for Small Groups?

Question: What do you do about childcare for small groups?

When it comes to small groups, you should stay out of the childcare business, no matter how much pressure you get to take on the responsibility. Believe me when I tell you that, if you don’t make this decision on the front end, childcare will become a growth barrier and logistical nightmare as your number of small groups grow.

The best solution is to empower each small group to be responsible for its own childcare needs. If you struggle with this issue, here are some creative and workable options:

1 – Have everyone in the group who has children pitch in financially to hire a baby sitter or two every week. When all of the parents give a little the cost is surprisingly minimal.

2 – Set up a rotation where a different couple in the group baby sits the children each week. Make sure no one has to baby sit more that once or twice during the semester.

3 – Challenge every couple with children to find a solution before coming to group (baby sitter, relative, etc.). After all, they have to find childcare when they go out on a date or have a work function. Most parents have several childcare options.

4 – Create a child-friendly group where parents are encouraged to bring their children. This works best with moms’ groups who meet during the day and plan their group around activities for the children.

These are just a few of the many options available to you. The big point is: Don’t get roped into providing the childcare solutions for your groups or for the group you HOST. Let the group attenders come up with creative solutions themselves, with some helpful input from you.

Take a few minutes to brainstorm other potential childcare options. What have you seen work? What would you like to try? Get some other people involved in this conversation and see where it leads.

Friend Friday

This weeks super-cool person of the week is Brandt Elwell!

Born- Washington D.C.
Married - 15 years
Favorite Movies - Forrest Gump, Usual Suspects
Music - Anything that is not rap music
Hobby - Camping & hiking
If I had a billion dollars - pay off all bills (friends & family too) and run around performing random acts of kindness.
Job - Shooting Range Designer
Currently live in - Boise, ID

I met Brandt back in Idaho where we attended church together.  Brandt is a Shooting Range Designer, don't you know you've got to live in Idaho!  Brandt is a great guy with a wonderful family and I wish we'd got to know them more before we moved to Colorado.  I sure wish they lived in Denver!  Thanks for being such a great friend Brandt!!

Doing Small Groups in Semesters

Question: I like the idea of semester-based small groups that meet for 10-12 weeks and then end. But doesn’t that keep deep and meaningful relationships from forming? Doesn’t the group end just as people are really getting to know each other?

This is one of the most common questions about the semester-based small group system. But it is based on fundamentally flawed information. Here’s the deal:

Most church leaders assume that, if involved in a “standard” 18-24 month small group system, 10-12 people will sign up, love being together and become intimate friends. But that’s not what really happens…

In reality, some people will click and others won’t. If the group extends beyond 12 weeks, those who haven’t really clicked start looking for ways to get out. Their attendance gets spotty. And even those who do form strong friendships begin to get bored before that year and a half to two years is up.

The goal of the semester-based group is not to encourage intimate relationships, but to create a safe, healthy environment through which basic friendships can form. Those meaningful relationships that start during the semester will continue to grow naturally outside the group after it ends.  At The Orchard Church, Small Groups are "Relate" in our "Reach, Relate, Reproduce" process.  For us, Small Groups are not "grow", "disciple", etc...

We would all be much better off if we stopped promising (and then trying to force) intimate relationships within our small groups. It’s a promise we can’t deliver on. What we can and should deliver is a safe, healthy social environment where people can meet other like-minded people so that relationships can develop naturally.

This truth takes a lot of pressure off of small group leaders. Too often, leaders feel like failures when the people in their groups don’t become great friends.

One side note – if you are like us, you are constantly trying to get unchurched men to sign up for small groups. Realize that these guys aren’t consciously looking for “intimate” relationships, but they would like to have a place where they can meet some other cool people, learn something new and explore what it means to know God more deeply. If you stop talking about the amazing, intimate relationships that will form in small groups, you just might stop scaring them off!

My Son and War

My son was born after 9/11.  He has an interesting view of War.  Since old enough to understand, he's heard about "The War on Terror", The War in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc...  He knows somewhat of what happened on 9/11 and the fall of the Twin Towers.  


Because of this, he has a view that war is normal and happening in many places.  Tonight he asked me "if the war for the Twin Towers was still going on"?  


I'm a child of the "Cold War" so it is interesting to hear him talk about the world through his lens.  He would not be shocked at all if you told him that there was a war going on somewhere in Colorado.  To him, its just a part of his world.  


He's most concerned about the war for Cybertron, and at the moment he seems very peaceful, he's drumming a pencil to the beat of a Joe Bonamassa concert on TV.  :-)

Friend Friday

This weeks super-cool person of the week is Michael Chapton!
City/state Born- Orange, California
Married- 13 years
Favorite Movie- The Jerk
Music- 80's Pop
Hobby- Hiking, photography
If I had had a Billion dollars I'd- We'd donate most of it, join the mission field and do what we could to prepare people to accept Christ. 
Job - Husband, father and during the day I'm a network engineer.
Currently living in what city/state - Clifton Park, New York

I met Michael or Captain Mike at Bridgepoint Church in Boise, ID.  Michael is a true friend!  Back in the days of living in Idaho, Michael got me into geocaching, which got me using a Garmin GPS.  He's a computer whiz in my book.  He's even helped me with my network in Colorado!  Michael is a man of faith and has a great family as well.  I sure wish he lived in Denver instead of New York.  Oh well.  Thanks for being such a great friend Michael!  We miss you all!

How Far Do You Live From Those You Serve?

I live just 5 ½ miles from The Orchard Church Ministry Center.  I drive on suburb streets and it takes me about 10 minutes to drive in.  When I lived in Idaho I lived 17 miles one-way from the church & office in another city called Meridian.  Without any traffic, it took me a good 30 minutes to get to church.  With any bad weather it could take 45 minutes easy.  I felt like it was very limiting to my ministry in Boise.  If someone wanted to meet with me, I found myself thinking about what time they wanted to meet. Is it close to rush hour? Can they meet at a different time to avoid traffic? Of course if there’s an emergency I would come no matter the time.

I could lead a small group from my house. But, it was very far for many people. 

I couldn’t invite people over for lunch. People did come, but it was always such a drive out to our place I knew in my heart of hearts that it was limiting to my ministry. 

Now, I like being so close to the Ministry Center and where the church meets on Sunday.  I actually feel like I am available to the people.  I am really getting to know the community around the church as well, and serving them.

Being on both sides of this situation at different times, I’m really feeling that for a modern missionary/pastor to be effective, he should live in the community that he serves.

But what about you? What do you think? Is it really important? What have you noticed in your own context?

Mojo:monday

Last night was the Harvest Party at The Orchard Church.  It was a great event with around 1000 in attendance.  A big thanks to EVERYONE who helped out, from the small groups running games, the walking cowboy show, the horse drawn hayride, the tireless popcorn and cotton candy makers, and all the food service people.  What an event!  I made lots of great connections with new people or ones that hadn't attended on a Sunday yet.  Our daughter Hallie was a pirate and pictured here with Kim.  Connor had fun getting his picture with Josh, a Jedi, and then running off to eat 2 1/2 servings of cotton candy before we intervened.  Thanks to the Cepedas, Goldsteins, Winegearts, Limings, Julie B., and Stacey for having our small group game and giving candy out to the kids!