People who are Linked to Home Groups

Home Groups = a  primary place for pastoral care and a key place for us to grow as Christians.

1.  So....Why are people linked to Home groups, rather than attending?

Various reasons:

• Illness
• Restricted with time due to work commitments
• Not a priority for them (eg. not solidly connected in church, still checking things out)

Therefore, a real variety of people; mature Christians, new Christians, non-Christians

2. What is the home groups role?

Care for your linked people and encourage them

a)    Look out for your linked people on Sunday and see how they are going. Introduce them to others so they can stay/get connected.

b)    Pray for your linked people regularly

c)    Pastorally care for your linked people, provide practical help if needed

3. Challenges

B/c of their circumstances they may be difficult to establish and maintain contact with.

May feel awkward trying to get to know them,

What works for some people, won't work for others. Treat them as individuals.

Tricky to gauge the right level of contact/support..No stalking or ignoring!

4. Practical Ideas:

I was speaking with a person who was linked to a HG last year and she felt very encouraged by it. This is some things her group did.

a)    Appoint one person from the group as the contact person for each linked person. Choose someone who will be a good fit.

b)    Find out the best way to communicate with their linked person (do they prefer email, phone?)

c)    Find out what level of contact they would like.

d)    Phone or Email them for prayer points and pray regularly for them. She was keen to pray for her group members, so received prayer points as well.

e)    Invite them to group socials, or Week of Prayer

f)     On Sundays, group members came and said hi and met her.  make sure all your group members meet your linked people.