Wanna Play? What’s Your Best New Idea for Connecting People?

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I’ve always been amazed at the real potential to be found in looking at something from another angle, a different point-of-view, a new perspective.  That’s probably why I’ve always loved the line from computer theorist Alan Kay:

“Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.”

One of my favorite reads in recent years was Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From and one of the best ideas in the book is the concept of the adjacent possible–the notion that as each advance is made, new possibilities emerge.  See Where Do You Want to Go with Your Small Group Ministry.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, an angle emerges that you’ve never noticed before.  Just when you’re reveling in the amazing potential of the small group connection, the HOST strategy comes out of nowhere.  A few months ago I heard about a way to leverage the exponential power of the HOST strategy and a church-wide campaign with a twist of Group Link.

Wanna play?  What are you trying (or considering) that may make it possible to connect beyond the usual suspects?  Who knows!  What you’re considering may be the breakthrough everyone needs!

What do you think?  Have an idea you want to share?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. In addition, I am the Small Group Specialist for LifeWay. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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2 Comments

  1. Debo on February 21, 2013 at 7:23 am

    We started this Lent season with a new event, which we are calling a “Bridge Event”, explaining it to the folks attending our church (we have a large % of young families) that this is something they could try out, as a bridge from Large church setting to a Smaller church setting of Community Groups, for the commitment of the 6 week Lenten series. For this to be successful (and we see where we needed to make, and will make some adjustments) we centered the conversation in round table discussion, with pre-selected pre-trained table host for each facilitation. As each weeks session progresses, we will share with the tables facets of group life dynamics, health, balance,and childcare(since this is a big need in our groups) options; then, at the end of the 6 week series we will offer to form new ongoing groups as a result of meeting together- and help them to get started with this. We sent out mass invitations to this to people new (in the last 6 months)to our church, but with very small response. We advertised in our newsletter and weekly bulletin, on our webpage, and facebook. We invited personally (THE best option if you want people to attend), which is where the majority of the attendees to the event came from. All that being said, we had a response of 24% of our present church attendees who are attending this event, most of whom have never been a part of group life; I classify that as a win:) God is good- hope this is helpful/ encouraging for someone. I do want you to know that this event (which we will keep holding at various times of the year, in addition to regular group signups) is a result of my reading this blog, and taking the content and revising it to fit our present life stage. Mr Howell, you have given me (and challenged my thinking with) so many things to think about and so much insight into group life- I am forever grateful.



  2. markchowell on February 21, 2013 at 9:21 am

    Great stuff, Debo! I love it! I really like the way you guys are tracking outcomes and adjusting next steps. Very good. Keep us posted!

    mark