Making the BIG seem small.

Hello friends.
When I first got here to Westminster, we had about 10-15 kids showing up on a typical Wednesday night. This was wonderful! I came from a youth group where 15 was a big deal, and while we don't want to play the numbers game too much, there is something to be said for critical mass. We all fit quite comfortably in the youth room, gathered together for worship or a talk or prayer time or whatever we were up to, we did it all together. And it was good.

Fast forward two years. It's move up night, and now Ed and I are standing in front of the group of about 25 waiting for the new 7th graders to make their way up the hall. I think our jaws officially hit the floor when we realized that 20 more kids were joining us that evening, bringing our total up to 45. It hasn't really left yet.

I am completely aware that there are groups that are WAY bigger than that around town. I'm not in any way bragging about our numbers. In fact, I actually consider them both the blessing and the curse. Sure, on the surface they make us feel good about the ministry that's going on. Obviously if 45 kids are showing up every week, we must be doing something right! But we kind of lost that sense of cozy conversation that we had in the early days.

My hope today is to remedy that feeling without shrinking the group. We've been planning for the last couple of months to do a small group initiative, to break down the whole group into smaller groups at least once a month. But the hope would be to foster relationships on a much deeper level, perhaps even participating in outside trips or activities. And so today will be consumed with meetings that I actually plan to enjoy (a rarity!) I'll be hanging out with the last two potential small group leaders. If nothing else, I'm super pumped that we formed a game plan back in May, and we're still on it in August!

How about the rest of you out there? How do you take big things and make them feel small? Do you have a small group program? What has worked and what hasn't? Feel free to chime in below!

Godspeed,

Jason