Churches Blessing Churches
Gateway Church Leaders recently spent a Saturday together in Upperville seeking the Lord. Below is a recap of their day written by Michele Bowden, Gateway’s Director of Groups. We pray it is an encouragement to other churches in the Network and may inspire your church to plan something similar. Upperville Baptist Church is available to host day retreats and can assist with overnight accommodations. Pastor Mike Husfelt can be reached at 937.321.6682.
What an amazing day we had last Saturday at our Leaders Retreat, as we gathered to talk about how community impacts us as group leaders.
We met at the Upperville Baptist Church which was established more than 190 years ago. Something that struck all of us was that time is fleeting...our days are numbered and so is the time we have to impact others for the sake of the Gospel and to grow relationships.
After a time of worship and a bit of storytelling about groups of old, we were asked to write down some nouns on index cards. We mixed them up and used the random nouns to fill in the blank, "Community is like...." Some of the nouns were Barcelona, bourbon, and shoe. How did this exercise work out? Incredibly. It was such a great reminder that community life is woven into the DNA at Gateway.
We as leaders described the authentic communities we've been personally experiencing as: Jesus-centered, accepting, the whole is better than the part, a oneness, fun, trusting, inviting, belonging, caring, forgiving, sharing love, unifying, taking ownership, creating safety, and serving one another. That is what our groups are doing at Gateway!
We toured the local Episcopal church from the 1800s and learned about the intentional church design focused on Scriptural themes. The ornamental windows reflected powerful Old Testament and New Testament themes. One beam in the church was set "off-centered" to reflect that church and man are imperfect. Only God achieves perfection.
As we closed, everyone was given a matchstick and sent off for a personal time of reflection to be open to God speaking in their lives. One leader said God was waiting for him and spoke almost immediately. Wow!
Our final activity was a discussion on the purpose for the matchstick that was given for them to carry. Some said it was inconvenient and cumbersome to carry with them especially when they didn't know why. It wasn't helpful when it wasn't even lit.
This was a reminder that sometimes we treat group life like that. It's something in the way, on our schedule, weighing us down, and without purpose. It was a reminder that group leading does have a very intentional purpose serving the people of our church.
As we helped each other keep our matches lit, we discovered anew our need for each other as "reminder-ers" and that we need to light our own match (or each other’s) to start the fire at Gateway. God inspired us. We wanted to share that inspiration with you and encourage your leaders to spend time together seeking the Lord.