[0:00] I'm going to stand right here because we are videoing this so that the video can get me! and the slides so I have to stand right here. We'll be brief today about half the people aren't! here that are in the group so that's okay so we're going to video it tomorrow you're going to receive an email with a few of the things I'm going to mention today plus a recording of this for those that couldn't be here hopefully they'll watch it 50-50 at best but hopefully they will. All right so let's run through a few things I'm going to be like Thomas today was and run through most of it very fast and then sit on a couple things really more the practical stuff that I think would be really helpful for everybody so go ahead Ellie. Just very briefly we're leaders here and there's all different types of leaders in a local church of course elders deacons WPT there's leaders that are in development moving towards office things like that there's a couple texts there just Luke 12 one of the most important categories for leadership in the Bible is the word steward or the wise household manager that's been given a gift by the Lord to manage for the good of other people so that's probably the most fundamental category we can we can lean on a leader in St. C's is someone who stewards their spiritual gifts to help people move from where they are to where God wants them to be which is mature in Christ ultimately so that's the goal of our work here so every semester we'll try to gather together at the start of every semester and gather around that goal go ahead Ellie you already know this keep moving that's who's in this room that's who's been invited to this we've expanded just one thing we've expanded this a bit from the past so it used to be that leaders at St. C's are just elders deacons WPT but we've we've broadened that out and that's important because we also need to always be in a pipeline of leadership and those people need to be in the room the people that we're discipling towards being leaders as well and it also allows for us to expand city groups multiply city groups so if we leave our leadership team only in elders deacons WPT you can't multiply city groups you're stuck and so that's one of the reasons that we decided in 2024 to change that go ahead Ellie all right just very quick you'll have gotten the document I sent out I hope you were able to read through it or will it'll be back in that email tomorrow who should we be the most important thing is people that know and are changed by the gospel grace grace grace uh never legalists so we want to fight as leaders a spirit of legalism in our church or antinomianism right we want to be gospel people um what's a leader called to just some things leaders are people who are communing with Christ every day so struggling forward in prayer and scripture reading in some way leaders should be people who are giving to the church attending and are serving right and then seeking to grow here refers to something like you know reading to further your theological knowledge or listening to things throughout the week that are helping Christian biography whatever it may be that you like but some form of growth and knowledge of what God teaches in the Bible so that's uh the the second to last and then people who love people so we're in the people business here people people people is the focus um of this role so one of the things I hope you're you may be noticing and we're going to continue to push down the road is we don't want leaders doing a lot of admin we want leaders doing being with people people focused so if you're doing a lot of admin we want to take that away from you so that you can be with people loving people helping people move to the place God wants them to be
[4:01] all right Allie um just generally speaking what are some of the big things to point out all of our leaders we we pray will be normally participating in the rhythms of church life so being here that's really the for the main stuff that's the long and short of it but then if we think about the vision statement we have our vision statement begins with helping people find and follow Jesus so that begins with leaders helping people find and follow Jesus so in in some sense we want all the leaders to be becoming people who are inviting the unchurched into church and inviting the unchurched into their lives so toward gospel conversation so this actually follows our vision statement the first step is to help somebody find and follow Jesus then help them to love God which is welcome people into the church assimilate new faces I'll say a bit more about that in a minute and then we want all of our leaders to be moving towards relationships where you have a Christian friendship where somebody is talking with you about your spiritual life right or you're talking with them and then learning at least to do that for somebody else so one question I might ask everybody especially our officers and WPT is is there somebody in the church that you are walking with through the faith right now and um and that's okay if it's not it's just that we want everybody to be moving towards that towards having a discipleship relationship with somebody in the church all right next Sally um and then of course leading a ministry in the church city group serving team etc um and then probably the other big piece so maybe today and and you know throughout the next year or two we grow and inviting people into the local church we might we might grow over the next year as a group as a team together and entering into a discipleship relationship with somebody in the church that needs to have help reading the bible or a new Christian or something like that the other piece would be that and we're going to get to this in a second but that we've updated the pastoral lists and we'll show you how to access those and the goal is that if you are a leader in any pastoral area especially elders deacons WPT the goal is that every single person in that pastoral area would be contacted every 60 days or so and that's in the tiniest way and that might be just through seeing them out and about and making sure there's a touch point how are you great to see you how can I pray for you but it may be a phone call and maybe inviting them over for lunch but when you look at pastoral lists a lot of them are 30 people maybe 40 people and you've got five to seven leaders or officers in that area it really only comes down to everybody shepherding five to seven other people in the church and that's it and so across 60 days to those five to seven people you've made your priority do they know that you've that you're praying for them that you've called them that you've asked how they're doing is there a pastoral care issue that you can help them with is there a needs ministry issue you can help them with anything like that so that's there and then lastly just a problem solver and peace promoter so a leader I think one of the ways to say it is leadership in the church is that when you see a problem you ask can I fix it before I take it to anybody else that would be one thing you know you see a mess downstairs can I I'm the right person called by God today to fix this mess and then if I truly can't I'll take it up or to somebody else a problem solver peace promoter a gossip killer that's another way to say it on that letter okay all right so this is the general stuff let me get more specific just some things this semester to be thinking about very basic not a big time it's stuff that only happens within post-sunday morning worship post-sunday evening worship what do you do with new people all right number one look for them look for them so look up and say are there people in this room I don't recognize that aren't in conversation and and move towards them so
[8:04] that happened a few times this morning where I saw somebody I know was new and I you know said hey would you mind grabbing them and they went and had a great conversation and most of you do that and it's awesome but but a leader is thinking about that be a person who's looking for that new face and saying man they're not talking to anybody I need to gravitate to them so it's it's very a good thing to say to the the member at Saint Seas that you know well when they're in the middle of a sentence hey hold on let me you see that person over there just wait I'll come back we'll talk about this later because there's a new person here that I need to connect with so that's a good thing so do that the next step would be get to know them invite them to a meal coffee or Sunday lunch so the first step is can you help gather them into the church but then the next thing would be now I want to go introduce you to ministry staff to a minister to somebody else but the most important piece beyond the relational piece is directing people to the new here link is always a good move so we can't do anything with them really officially until they've filled out that that that form we can't contact them I can't call them they can't be put on any of our groups nothing because of data protection so always always always hey how can I get would you like to fill out a new here form if you do that you'll get the Wednesday email you'll get invited to be part of a city group all that so you're always safe and just basically remembering get to know them invite them to fill out the new here form and if they can do that we'll be able to run sprint with them in terms of getting them connected here all right Allie so if they're a Christian feel very free to invite them to city group so if you know hey they've moved on from another church anything like that but again if they want to be a part of the city group the way that they have to do it is fill out the new here form so one of the things that's just a slight shift from the past is it's it would be helpful not to add them to a city group whatsapp until they filled out the new here form well so technically we're not supposed to do that so say hey we'd love to add add you to our city group whatsapp if you just fill out this form then we can do that we can we can get that sorted for you immediately so that's a big piece if they're not a Christian or you're not sure about it wait on inviting them to city group and just press pause on that and instead maybe the question is well why don't we get coffee and see what's their story could you enter into a relationship with them where you open the bible and walk through the gospel read mark together and if you're not there you don't think that's the right person to do that with the best thing would be to take them to a ministry staff person could and and like i'm i'm we're ready to do that with anybody that's not yet a believer so we want to do that with them so that's the move um finally if they are settled in the church and you think they are going to make st columbus their home church we want them to fill out a serve form so again a slight change from the past is just it's really difficult we find it that it's really difficult if uh we have a conversation i'm the biggest culprit of this where i'll say somebody will say to me um i want to be on teas and coffees and i'll be like yeah great i want you on teas and coffees we all want you on teas and coffees and you know what happens they never get on teas and coffees because they told me at 11 37 on a sunday morning that they wanted to be on teas and coffees and it's just not going to happen right unless my memory on monday afternoon is like oh somebody told me yesterday they want to be on teas and coffees so we we really need a record of it and the best thing is say perfect let me give you this link right now stcsfc.org slash serve or stcsfc.org slash new so all the links are the same and uh so getting somebody to put their details in and then moving them to the serving form is the next step um and once
[12:08] they filled out that form we won't miss them in the office so one of the things we're trying to shift to is in the office trying to take care of this stuff really precisely and not miss people through gaps we've struggled with that at times um you know somebody's told me i want to serve in this i need to know i need to send them to sheena for pvg you know i need i need you to fill out this form so i can take that next step or i'll miss you i'll miss it and what happens is if we miss that and the road is restart it's 90 days away before they can ever be in a serving team again so uh getting people integrated is so critical and why this is so important is because people tend to only stay at a church if they've met a friend have been asked to do something so that's a key piece for people making a church a home and really feeling like it's home is that they've got a job they they really want to they need to be there because they have a job to do so we want to move people towards that quickly but it requires just a tiny bit of admin here all right so next is healthy city groups so leaders are thinking about inviting people to church discipling somebody welcoming new faces and this healthy city groups so just a few things this is all in the document we sent out i mean maybe the biggest thing to say is really healthy city groups depend on intentionality so um if everything's formal and perfunctory it'll be really hard to cultivate community and instead the community's got to be alive so things like using your whatsapp group for text messages beyond you know just announcing information that's that's a good thing to do saying hey here's a couple things that were mentioned for prayer maybe the leader in the middle of the week says hey uh remember so and so asked all of us to pray for them about this um stuff like that just a living community is really the big thing another thing i just wanted to mention is a mindset that our city groups are based off geographies and of course it's going to be the case that there are people in our geography that wouldn't naturally be our best friends right so it's not people that necessarily that we think we would hang out on a friday night for sure even if this didn't exist right but that's the calling so that's the calling it's the mindset that says i'm in a geography with lots of different people that wouldn't have been my friends but they are my family in christ and so having that healthy city group depends on that mindset that says i'm going to invest in these people relationally because god's put them in my area that's it that's the reason they're part of my local church family in my subdivision and that's the reason uh for for the relationship so i think that helps a lot um relationships relationships relationships is the key to healthy city groups that's the big piece uh ali go ahead man thanks okay how new people join city group we've already said it but here it is ask them to put their details in if they put their details in we can get them in a city group within an hour um if they don't then our whole system's a mess we don't they're not in church suite but they're in a whatsapp we don't know i nobody in the office knows who they are their names uh that happens sometimes and it's great because people are connecting relationally with people and just saying come on and we love that's awesome and just take that extra step just before i add you to the whatsapp stcsfc.org slash new okay um that's critical uh and then once that happens look for an email so you'll regularly especially on mondays get an email not regularly but when new people come or when somebody moves anything like that get you'll get an email from the office from church suite from mary that says so and so has been added to your city group and immediately when you see that
[16:12] shoot them a one sentence message an email right then a text message right then that says hey so i saw you were added we haven't met yet that's okay we're so glad you're going to be a part of our city group um would love to connect before if you like any questions i can answer and it is very good if uh they get eight emails from eight leaders in the same pastoral area all at once that's okay that's good they feel overly welcomed um so sometimes what we've had is the email goes out and i think everybody thinks i don't know if it's my job to do that and so they don't get what they nothing happens and that that's happened in the past on occasion so the much better thing is that they they just get welcome too much um and too many people are trying to put their numbers into the whatsapp that's that's not bad at all so okay perfect next up ali okay just running city group um this semester uh we're doing what is the gospel this course from the gospel coalition the studies won't be identical to that instead the studies will take a passage from that week's material and form the study around the passage but the leader's guide is at that gospel coalition course but it's for the whole church so every single city group uh study that comes out the whole church will see hey go to this study on the gospel coalition have a read through it and the big step we're trying to take this semester is that everybody comes to city group having done something now is that going to happen no but it's the goal right so if it gets 10 better great um so if 10 of the people that come to city group that aren't the leaders read the passage in advance wonderful it creates so much more flow and conversation when that's happened even better is you may have already looked at the study for 30 september i will put every time hey everybody in the church that's coming to city group have a listen to this five minute audio podcast on this passage um and uh yeah that's fine and uh just to try to cultivate uh conversation and study real meaningful study around it okay so um i think ali's trying to pull those up but it's okay we don't have to just one sec let me take a moment now to see are there any questions or things or other things so far we're getting close to the end here so um i'm going to say something in a second about pastoral list but yeah sure yeah and another thing that's a great point another thing to mention is you know share the prayer point in the text if they shared a public prayer point in the meeting and it's obvious like there's no problem like mentioning that hey do you mind or ask permission that's always a good method right so that's a good thought um for removing people same setup so we're going to try to be pretty precise and quick on as soon as we find out this person's moved house and we generally do want people to move city group if they move house not always we're super flexible um you will get an email that says from church suite that says so and so has has been taken out of your city group try to typically also send a text to you know if somebody left gilmerton i would text dean and say hey we just took that person out because they just moved but you're about to get an official email that says that the best thing to do i think with that is is the leaders send that person a message it was great having you in our city group um we'll take you off now you know something something sweet something nice and then just remove them so that's fine so they'll expect that because we'll have said
[20:14] from the office cool we're going to take you off this one and we'll send an email to the leaders of this one and they'll add you so is that helpful or okay cool so all the admin will be done from the office except for physically taking them off your whatsapp or adding them to a new whatsapp yeah yeah any other questions so far yeah donald yeah yeah so typically um an ally can chime in on this if he wants but on a monday we would we would uh if we're doing our our job um we will you'll get an email that says peter's been removed um but at the same time like it's totally fine as well for you to say hey great having you we'll miss you in st andrews i'm gonna take you off um so do take people off that's that's fine um sometimes people leave on their own but uh it depends yeah yes you know yeah absolutely yeah that's great um and that that is why that form is is critical because that form serves as a stop gap you know it's when that form comes to us at the office we're not going to do anything with it until we know the leader the leaders know they've talked to the people yeah so if i see a form from somebody that's been here for one week and they want to serve in creche you know there's all sorts of barriers there right and but because it's come to the office we're not going to let it happen right we're not going to let them serve in creche so i'll give them a call so that's what we'll do is i'll give them a call and say hey thanks for putting the form in uh to serve in creche you have to have been here longer you got to be a member all this stuff how about like but teas and coffees is okay let me talk to you about that so we'll yeah so that's really yeah exactly so that's really helpful cool so here's the website if you haven't been on it yet what's the gospel that's week one right there there's some audio there's um a lecture from da carson to listen to uh you can pop this in your ear commuting and be ready for city group um uh things like that just helpful stuff um there's lots of resources each of those bullet points on the left is each of our city group weeks for the semester so we'll follow that um uh they've connected you to all sorts of stuff you can use as much of it or as little of it as you want uh so but then what i'll do every time is take a passage from that study to form the actual city group meeting around it so it's there it's all simple and easy accessible 24 7 so any questions about that at all so we'll see how this goes this semester and then if it goes well there's literally hundreds of these courses that the gospel coalition has gathered and they're really good so um it provides an obvious resource for us to to use for prep so cool all right ali thanks and then um we've sent out the study you'll have already we don't have to go to that right now but that's been sent out so by now hopefully or by tomorrow at the latest send out that study to the city group and you know let people know where it is and all that sort of stuff like usual all right lastly i think um in terms of big things uh i don't know if you can see that but we will send
[24:16] out you'll have these links there it is these are these pastoral areas which are also currently correspond exactly to the city group areas so there's a difference in pastoral area and city group right though right now they correspond exactly and that's because the goal would be in the church to multiply city groups so generally speaking we don't want city groups to be 40 people we want them to be 15 people of real intentional communities so already if you look up and think man we got way too many people come and talk to me or david or mary we'd love to help walk through the process of saying let's build a new city group in the hay market area let's build a new city group in leith there's too many people already um so that's the goal so a pastoral area would have elders deacons wpt over it pastoring it but within it maybe one day maybe in 10 years there'll be three to four city groups in every pastoral area with within with city group leaders of groups of 10 to 15 adults and kids all meeting uh that that's the that's the multiplication goal right and um smaller up to 15 tends to be the health healthier um because those people are actually in each other's lives they're knowing each other so one of the hiccups maybe we've run into in the past uh and i mean over the last long while it's just our city group list get up to you know i've been in a city group list of 50 before and um it's just it's not a small group anymore right it's just a list of 12 people that come and 38 people that have archived the message group on their phone right and uh that's you know so some of us are in that situation and so the goal would be maybe you think there is a couple in my city group in my pastoral area that could break away from our city group and recruit some of those people who aren't coming and form a new city group you only need six or seven if you have seven adults that could gather around that's enough um so uh we can't do it all at once but if you think my area could use a multiplication process um let me know because i'll try to help walk through that start identifying people that could lead the next thing does that make sense yeah the goal there and those are the i know you can't see that that well but we'll have that link for you in the documents that you can always check on where's this person that kind of thing so all right so those are the pastoral areas we'll update them regularly in church suite check and look out for emails from the church office about changes in your area um so the big pastoral goal and i i honestly want i hope that we can uh grow into a a normal rhythm of this as much as possible but the goal really is here to spend like five minutes a week on this maybe and that's some form of dividing people in your pastoral area amongst the leaders and just saying making sure everybody's connected to somebody giving them a phone call every once in a while it really it really should come down to as few as five seven people total that we're all responsible for um so every 60 days or so phone calls are are perfect because a phone call doesn't require you to take two hours to cross the city and meet with people but it's more than a text and it even if it's a phone call with a voicemail that just says um hey you're on my pastoral list i was praying for you today uh and just want you to know that would love to meet up sometime if you ever want to right so you're checking in and giving them a way to say actually i'm really hurting right now and i'm thinking about leaving christianity right now sometimes that kind of stuff happens i'm deconstructing you know whatever it may be and that phone call could have changed their entire universe right so that's the goal here um and then if you need help if you come across a pastoral problem uh never be afraid to
[28:19] take things up so it's never a gossip to take something up especially if you have permission so if you say you know this person's struggling with this i talked to them about it they said i could tell me or maybe a women's pastoral team member somebody um i really need help i don't know what to say you know um so that's what we're trying to create a culture and environment of pastoral care in all this process great all right ali a couple more okay here we have where you can find your pastoral list so you log into church suite download the app log in and i know this is hard to see but there is a button that says link sorry church directory is a church directory link link click link at the bottom and next page and then there's a line there that says pastoral lists so it's very clear pastoral list and when you click it you'll see your pastoral list the pastoral list is everybody in the church that has given us permission to hold their details in your geography that's different from city group list which is also going to be in church suite so you can see your pastoral list everybody in your area but then your city group list which are the people that are actively attending and so it'll be our job working with everybody here to keep those the same so if uh somebody on the pastoral list has started attending city group we'll just want to know that so we can switch it on here to stick them into the city group list as well as the pastoral list that kind of stuff so we're trying to keep as accurate as possible and the reason for that is just so we can know our people and know who we have and know who god's given us to serve and lead so that's the big goal there okay any questions about this so it may be that you still need to download the church suite app that might be the next step it may be you need login help anything like that ally is your guy at the back there and dean alia said dean as soon as i said ally um tomorrow they are built yeah yep so whatever group you're you're in you'll have access to yeah ally go ahead the link will work when dean has time so now it's on miriam yeah yeah so this week and then for the future it'll be there so yeah yeah no because you can access it on a computer yeah but if not very so if you log in you'll just see a mini bar and it'll say link and pastoral list and that's it's so you're two clicks away after login from your pastoral list um yeah yeah yeah yeah i think there's the other point sometimes not that i'm getting old but um whatsapp groups and the email that you send out
[32:24] i try to be conscious of do i need to reply in person to that whatsapp message or email so not everything has to be reply all right not every whatsapp message has to be back to everyone there is a way that you can reply privately if you didn't know that mm-hmm yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so the goal here um is that we're trying to build a system that actually requires very little like so i mean once you have seen your pastoral list and and you've met with others and walk through it of course and if you ever have trouble like everybody else in your pastoral area has it too right so and you've walked through it you know it's not going to change that much that quickly so i mean you know you it may be that you've written down your 10 names at home in a in a journal or anything like that and those are probably going to be your 10 names for a good year or two um you know and and uh so there's an initial on or out but then hopefully it'll be pretty easy from there so yeah mary kind of like the other side of the skill here a technical question so this is a crm yeah crm yeah yeah or is it oh OK because that was not so who's got access to like edit that so like if um um so does it have like a function that you can put in these conditions
[34:23] Yeah. Yeah.
[34:37] Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's a work in progress, some of that kind of stuff.
[34:59] But one of the things to say is just we are 100% in on Church Suite. So everything's through Church Suite, ROTAs. So in the past in Elvanta, we were like 50-50, one foot in, one foot out.
[35:12] But we've learned this time, you know. So we will direct you back to Church Suite for stuff, you know. If you're looking for a number, an address, you know, you have a directory.
[35:25] It's all there. The church calendar used to not be a part of Elvanta. Well, it was, but we weren't actively pushing it. Everything is Church Suite. So every single Wednesday on the email at the top, there is a link to the church calendar that will tell you everything that's happening.
[35:40] And you can click on it and find out what's so far scheduled for February 2026, you know. So that's a resource. It's always there. It's a resource. So that's why we're not gathering today to look at the calendar.
[35:52] We're not gathering just a, we're gathering to give big kind of system building and be done with it, you know. And hopefully from here, the goal is that you don't have to do hardly anything except know people, pray for people, love people, and occasionally check your list.
[36:11] That's it. That's the big goal here, so. And did you say the pastoralists are only viewable by the, like, the leadership team? Yeah. That's not publicly available to just general members.
[36:23] Correct. Yep. That's right. Okay, Allie, I'll run through the last couple things. Just some resources. So one of the things I'll link to you guys later and I'll send out on our WhatsApp is I'm working on, like, a ministry map that just gives a link to everything we do.
[36:38] So if you're looking for information on when does Women's Open Book meet, because I'm a guy and I'm not a part of that, but I'm talking to somebody that wants to know, we will have a link to a ministry map that just says, here's this 19 ministries St. Columbus does, and everything you need to know about them in one click.
[36:58] So that'll be a resource for you. Needs ministry, let me just remind you, if you encounter a need in your pastoring of people and you're not able to deal with it, and then the next step is say, can the city group deal with it?
[37:11] That's the next step. Can the pastoral area deal with it? That's the next step. And then if you think this needs a bigger touch, come to the needs ministry, where Neil McRae, Georgie, Anna McRae, and the ministry staff are all on that, and we will help organize whatever's needed for that.
[37:33] The church calendar, as I've already mentioned, there's that link. I don't know if you've clicked on it or you're using it, but we want everybody to shift towards it and be clicking on it.
[37:44] We're trying to keep it as up-to-date as possible for the future, and everything's there. Everything's there. And then church suite stuff we've already talked about. Okay. Thanks, Allie. One couple more.
[37:55] So, to pull back a little bit and be a little more spiritual about things, the way we could think about every single person that walks into the church amongst a people pathway, the goal is that we see every person mature in Christ at their deathbed, seeing Jesus in glory, right?
[38:16] And so, every single person that walks in our church is either unchurched but willing to gather with us, right? Or a believer but just starting to worship here.
[38:28] Or a growing Christian disciple but not yet a committed member. Or they're a committed member, and the goal is to move them towards servant leader.
[38:39] So, we could all say that we are somewhere on this list. The goal is that everybody in this room is number five. But there are people today that were number ones that were here. There were people today that were number twos, threes, and fours.
[38:51] And you can always think that everybody we encounter is in a pathway towards maturity in Christ, which does exhibit itself in how they relate to the local church. And so, we're trying to think, is the person I'm talking to unchurched gatherer?
[39:02] What's my next step? Well, I want to move them to believing worshiper. I want to gather with them and say, let's read the gospel. That's the next step. Or are they a believing worshiper, but they're not yet growing disciple? I want to say, how about city group?
[39:14] They're not yet a committed member, but they go to city group. I want to say, you should think about membership. Here's what membership is and means, right? So, just thinking about that people pathway idea. All right?
[39:24] I think we've got two slides left. Just a couple things to be looking out for. Sure. I'm working on a nice printed booklet that's a welcome guide for new people that has everything we do, nice graphics, all that kind of thing that would be available here every Sunday that you could come and grab and say, it's not, we don't just have a vision and values card for you.
[39:48] We have, take this home with you, 20 pages of images and just little bits of content of who we are, what we want to be. Read through it. Let's meet at it for a coffee and talk about it.
[40:00] That's a pathway there. We're looking, we're doing the same thing for a printed members guide for those seeking membership with a membership class that's coming up. And then in November, we're going to have a small group that will begin, hopefully for the long haul for the unchurched or non-Christians, tentatively titled Questioning Christianity.
[40:21] So, I'll be putting out information in September about that so you can start inviting people. If you have somebody in your life that can gather around a meal for a month every week and have different topics to talk about around the gospel.
[40:34] And then pray for a new website as well. That's what I'm praying for. New website. Soonish. All right. So, I'm going to, it's time, I'm going to pray for us.
[40:47] Make prayer, big prayers this semester. Citywide movement of the gospel. The work of revival. Revival happens in small ways. So, I talked to a non-Christian that came to church today for the first time.
[41:00] We're praying for a revival in their life. Revivification. You know, bringing, being brought back to life. Revivification. To the person they were meant to be. And we're praying that the whole city would become Christians. That's a big revival, right?
[41:11] So, both kinds make that core of prayer life this semester. Let me pray for us. Lord, we do ask that in all this church suite and email and welcoming new people and all that, that we would see the big goal as vivification.
[41:29] And people coming to life and growing mature in Christ and having joy in that. So, we ask for it, Lord. Make us into people who care about it, who want it, who see that as our goal as leaders.
[41:41] Move us in that direction in one little step this semester. And do it as a community, as a team, Lord, we pray. And then we do pray for those folks that we will meet this semester that don't yet know Jesus.
[41:53] Would you change their lives? We ask for baptisms, Lord. That's our prayer. So, we bring that before you. And we pray it in Christ's name. Amen. All right. We've got four minutes for any final questions, comments, other things you think, we haven't talked about this, or this is missing, or anything that might come to your mind.
[42:14] I know everybody wants to leave. Anything? Abby, yeah. Any particular tips for difficulty in this group?
[42:26] I know sometimes there's somebody in the group that either is difficult or difficult or difficult or difficult or difficult or difficult. Yeah.
[42:37] Yeah. Any advice for anybody? Yeah. Yeah. So, one of the things I would say, I think it's really hard to answer that question in the most general way. And I think one of the things I would say is anytime you're struggling in city group with a personality, anything like that, never be afraid to bring that to a minister or somebody that you trust that's in leadership and just say, could we process this together?
[43:01] Because the more specifics, the easier it is to be able to say, hey, why don't you all try this or invite them to this? It depends on the circumstance for sure, right?
[43:14] One thing I would say, too, and I think all of us are in different places with this, is as we lead city groups, be active, not passive. So, it's really important to have active leadership in city group.
[43:26] So, you're not trying to teach, but you are trying to guide. And that's, you know, that the room knows you're bringing things back to the main point. You're even saying, well, let's talk about that after.
[43:40] Like, that's okay. It's okay to kind of say, hey, why don't we meet and talk about that? I want to bring that back to the main point. So, one of the things I think is just activity. But, yeah.
[43:52] So, bring in help, I'd say. And we can talk and process a little bit on details.
[44:03] So, anything else? No. I had a thought on the, sort of, signing up, or whether it's the new year or signing up for the service.
[44:20] I haven't seen the forms, so use my notes. But, is there, I was thinking maybe something like a QR code would be quite a quick way for people to, rather than trying to find it on a website.
[44:31] Yeah. If we can generate a QR code, they can scan it. Or, you know, if they're not that way and trying to have a smartphone, can they just fill it in and pen and paper and hand it to somebody?
[44:42] Yeah. I'm just trying to think of easy ways that we can get quick wins for that. Because that seems to be the biggest barrier for getting that information. Yeah, so we've got the QR codes out and about, bulletin, things like that.
[44:54] But yeah, absolutely. I think that's true. And we can probably, we had, it's not there today, a QR code on the Connect desk for that. But it was a piece of paper. I don't know where it is.
[45:05] Or even like having a tablet there with whoever's running that. Yeah. Like, I want to put in this form. Can you help me do it? You can do it with them. Yeah. The options there.
[45:16] Yeah, so you guys are anticipating this stuff. Yeah, so we've got a tablet that's going to show up on the Connect desk soon that we've taken out of the old Tap and Give machine out there.
[45:28] Because we're giving up with that. We now have a SumUp card machine that will be there soon. So, yeah. Yeah.
[45:41] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
[45:58] Let me, there's one minute left and I want to take the one minute. So, I want to take the one minute to say thank you for the past year of service and love for the church and all of us together.
[46:09] It's Jesus' church and we're all here to serve it together. And just thanks so much for love and care. City groups, accessibility groups.
[46:19] City groups, creche, kids church, music, AV. Incredible amount of love and hours that everybody in this room puts in. and so it's great and it's a service to the kingdom of God and so I want to thank you for that and acknowledge especially they won't like this but Donald and Jillian have put in an incredible amount of work into our finances in a way that's above and beyond any normal church service so I just want to acknowledge that and say thank you to you guys again and we're in a really healthy place now with that and and it's all because of them and so they serve they do that and then they serve in a billion other ways but but that's to everybody as well and then I want to say God's you know we're thankful we've looked up and we're probably 10 to 15 percent larger right now than we were a year ago in average attendance our giving is up a good bit you know so some of those metrics are good and we're thankful for that but the biggest thing we're praying for is more adult baptism that's what we want here that's the that's the big goal we want to have more Connor Coventries up here so that's the prayer this year that's the focus God will bring our finances and all that but we want to see people come to faith so that's the real the meat that we're here for so all right thanks guys have a great few hours and thanks for being willing to give this time