Lifeline at Southridge

So it seems that our search for a church has finally come to an end. After months of looking and visiting several different churches we have found one that we would like to stay at. Funny thing is that it isn't at all the kind of church that we were initially looking for. It's one of the largest churches in the area (churches are generally much smaller here) and doesn't have that friendly "everyone knows you" kind of atmosphere that we found in pretty much every other church we visited. So why this one? Well, in the end it came down to the speaking and general vision of the church. It's important to us that we're at a place where the speaking is captivating and challenging (at least most of the time). Not to say that the speaking wasn't this way at the other churches we visited, well perhaps for others, however it wasn't for us. The church also has a lot of people in our age range and place in life. It's also a MB church, so that was a plus for us. Since the church is big and we would like to get connected sooner than later we decided to check out life groups.

Two to three times a year the church holds what they call "lifeline," which is an opportunity for people to come out and become part of a life group. It starts at 6 and ends b 7:30. Having led/ facilitated a life group for the past three years we were curious and eager to see what this was all about, as it sounded much different than the conventional put your name in the offering for someone from the church to call you and get you connected. This was a very negative experience for us in the past, as for so many others that we know, so we were eager to learn about a new way that this can be done. There is still this option at Southridge, however it's by no means the main focus on how to get connected.

It was different indeed, what a wonderful idea! At first we were a little skeptical but we were soon won over. As soon as we left we were talking about why other churches (espeically the bigger ones) don't do something like this. There were about 80 people in attendance, most of which were looking to join a life group, obviously this church is doing something right in this area.

So here's how it went. There were 8-10 tables set up in the main foyer. When you came in and registered you were given a coloured piece of paper that matched a paper on one of the tables, which would be your table for the beginning of the get together. One of the pastors gave a little talk about what the evening would look like and what life groups were all about (and what they weren't). They showed a couple little videos, one was a short testimony of a couple's experience in their life group and what the group meant to them. The other video was a group of people showing what life group wasn't about, this was a nice ice breaker for people. This led into a get to know your table group activity.

Then it was down to business, oppportunities for finding a group. This could also be thought of as speed dating for a life group. There were 7-8 little video clips where different leaders (of new or smaller exisiting groups) shared a bit about there group (meeting night, location or rotation, demographics of group, etc). A pastor also explained how there were write ups about other groups as well that contained similar info. If one didn't find a good fit through the video clips they could look there for a group. The third option for finding a group was creating one with a group of people at the meeting (there seemed to be 1-2 groups that formed this way).

Once all three ways of finding a group were presented they had everyone stand up and either locate a leader from one of the videos or read the info sheets, etc. We were amazed how well this actually worked! Everyone got up at the same time and within a few minutes everyone had relocated to different tables and were learning more about joining a specific group.

We hooked up with a couple around our age with a 13 month old little boy. There are already two other couples in their group in a similar situation and were looking for more people to join. They meet Sunday nights, which is great since that's really the only good night for us since David has many evening classes this semester. We felt amazed and blessed with how easy and natural the process was.

We loved how the church organized and presented the life groups and then put the ball in our court to decide on what we wanted to do. It was informative, non intimidating and quick. No one had to wait for a phone call, which is often from a group that doesn't meet on the right night, etc. People have a say on what kind of group they would like to be a part of and are therefore more likely to show up and get involved. Well done Southridge. So there you have it. This format may be totally familiar to you, but it was so new to us that I thought it was something that I just had to share.