SPEAKER_02 0:00

All right, hey, welcome. Uh Vision Podcast number two. Um if Patrick is snarky today, it's because I forgot we were filming, and so I'm like 30 minutes late. So he's trying to read the room. How is this gonna go? All right, so we have our best two. Yeah, here we go. Um so uh last week we talked about the reality of going to two services. Um and so we're definitely navigating questions, um, but a lot of excitement. I think there's always a there's a mix of fear and excitement, and I think that's that was the hope, and I think that's certainly what we're seeing. Uh definitely some questions we still have to reveal about how we want to navigate the building. How do we uh transition between the two services? Uh, we're gonna need a foyer of some sorts. Uh so some of those things that we're working on that are in the works. Foyered. That was foyer. Yeah. Is it foyer? Foyer. You know, if I was an actual Instagram influencer, I'd be like, comment below.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Foyer or foyer?

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Thumb up, thumb down, smiley face, heart.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Subscribe if you agree with foyer.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Unsubscribe if you don't. All right, sorry. Sorry. Uh okay, so today we are talking about um the idea of connecting people. So for me, I have very little experience of feeling disconnected in the church um in terms of understanding what a lot of people go through. So I grew up in this church. I don't remember attending another church. Um we moved to Hamilton or went to Bible school in Manitoba. And then after Joseon got married, we moved to Hamilton for a couple years. Uh so we had, I mean, we did some of the church shopping thing, like some of that's familiar to us. Like it's not like it's a foreign. Um, but the idea that, you know, and the experience that a lot of people have of coming into this church and going, this is our home church. Now, how do we get connected? We haven't fully experienced. And the other thing that I think is unique for me, and I know your story is different than this, but for me, um, I've always had family at this church. Right. And to me, that's something that I hope as a, you know, I've always said I love going to church with my kids. I hope my kids continue to stay here. I hope we as a family can keep going to church together. That's something to us that's a value. I get to have my brother here. I get to have Josie's siblings, Josie's parents. My parents often come. Um, and so I mean, we get to do a lot of family things. So when we're doing some of this, it's challenging because I can't pretend I fully understand what people need or, you know, how to best help them. And so over the years, we tried a bunch of different things, we've tried some different approaches. Um and so just kind of as a backstory a little bit as we're coming up with this, like it's been a bit of a you're trying to figure out what does this look like rurally. Um, the church dynamics have also changed. Um, when we first started coming to this church, I was three. Dumb statement. Let me try again.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

When I first started working at this church, um, the dynamics were much more um, very few people that would not have been, you know, a part of uh some sort of extended family here, like it was it was family groupings. Um, so you didn't have there were some, they just not like everybody, but for the most part, everybody kind of fit in the sense of we have my aunt and uncle here, we have my cousins here, you know, we have lifelong friends here that way. During COVID, that all kind of got flipped on its tail. And now we're a very diverse church with a lot of people who do not have um deep communal connections either here in the region, period, or in the church. And so, just kind of as a backstory, as you're kind of going, like, why are we, you know, releasing something now? The reality is life has changed. So some of the stuff that would have worked 10 years ago because that's who we were, just does not work. Um, some of the community stuff that we did back then, and obviously, I mean we're in a great place. So it's not like we've done, you know, nothing, we've done laws, just we need to continue to react and respond to where the world is instead of trying to force things that we used to do that used to work. So I don't know, that's kind of my background. I know yours a little bit different, but I don't know if you're gonna ask you.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

One of the things that we've we've noticed over the last number of years is um we've had a there's been a recognition that there are some things that we just haven't done well. And I think those have become more and more apparent as the diversity of the church has become more apparent and has become larger, and um the depth of that has, you know, really kind of taken hold. And those weaknesses that, you know, weren't that impactful in the past because of the family groupings, because of the different connections that people would already have within the community. And um they didn't really like stand out as as a parent. Right. Right? Because you could always like someone would always be able to reach out and add somebody into the group and like people could find a fitting. But what we've noticed is that it it is becoming increasingly difficult for that to be done in a healthy, timely way for people to feel like you know this this body of believers, this community of faith is accepting, like to feel like we are accepting, but it in terms of like how do we how do how how do people can get on board in terms of like feeling like they are a part of the community, they're able to get in and grow with people and and really move forward in their journey. And that's something that we've kind of recognized and we've gone, okay, well, we have to do this part of this better. It needs to be more clear. Uh there needs to be there there needs to be a a laid-out established pathway. There can't be disconnected ministries that are all kind of working and developing, and you know, they're they're all they're all part of the community, and there's lots going on, and there's lots of opportunity for people to dive in, and yet at the same time, it just is not really kind of laid out in a clear way. And those are all things that we've kind of recognized over the last little bit, and we've been challenged by that.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Well, and so a couple factors again to keep going with this. People are not really hospitable in our day and age. In the sense of everybody's a little bit more closed. Or the way we do our lives, we're very busy with our own life. Like it used to be like I remember even as a youth, like Sunday afternoon, nobody had a life, like we just all hung out. That world doesn't exist anymore. Everyone's busy, everyone's doing stuff, and so it's not like you know, we you even have Sunday set aside that on that Sunday we're gonna invite no, because people are doing stuff and they're trying to, you know. So I think there's that part of it. The other thing that that so obviously where we're leaning towards is connecting people. This one is not complex. We need to connect people, and in essence, you're trying to help them develop friendships. And so if you're in the church world, you're gonna have heard a million different approaches to this. And so there's life groups and small groups and community groups, and um, you know, from more your tradition, it would have just been, you know, do church multiple times a week. And there's churches in Elmer still doing that where you do Sunday morning, Sunday evening, churches going back, 100% at extra services because they want to have that. People are trying to figure out how to connect. Like, we're not alone in this. Like, I think sometimes when we present this, we're kind of like, we're the only church. No, every church. I don't know of a single pastor who's like, we got it nailed. Um, and so I think there's a lot factored in. So when we're going forward, one of the things that really hit me this year. So I've been pastor here for 16 years.

unknown 7:24

Whoo!

SPEAKER_02 7:24

16 years, yeah. Apparently, according to my LinkedIn profile, and I don't know when I did this, but April, something early April was officially 16 done. And so now I'm in year 17.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I I keep getting invited to like like connect with you on LinkedIn, and I don't know why.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

I don't know. Somebody told me I need to be on there. I check on there like once every year or so, and like, oh man, lots of good.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Connect with Albert Low and I'm like, we do every day. Like every day.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

That's what is LinkedIn. Stop talking to me. Can you just message me on the LinkedIn? Um, so going back to oh yeah, year 17. So one of the things we started this year was mentoring. And so what I did was I opened up a spot and said, I don't know how this is gonna work, but I'm gonna try to do some intentional um gathering with people and some mentoring. And so what's been fascinating is the difference that um setting up a specific and intentional time with a model um has made in terms of relationship. And so, what I mean by that, and the reason those two things connect, like I pastored these people for 16 years, just because I'm your pastor does not mean you're inviting me in. It does not mean you're inviting me into a space where you say, Hey, here's what I would like you to speak into. And so for me, because I'm not a really forceful person, like anybody who knows me well, like I don't, uh and so I'm gonna kind of sit back. If you invite me in, I'll give you as much wisdom as I have and and and whatever. But so as we're sitting at these mentoring groups, and I so the goal was to we meet as a group once a month, and I try to meet with everybody once a month in between, as you're sitting there, all of a sudden you're like, I get to speak into someone's life in a way that most people that I've pastored for the past 16 years have never allowed me in. And so as we've been thinking about that, going, okay, so how do we, when we start thinking about this idea of connecting, how do we create spaces that provide the right atmosphere for the right thing to occur? Because so, as we've done small groups in the past, we've realized there's a couple different elements that so small groups are typically either um geared strictly towards accountability. And so you and you know, a couple buddies get together and you're gonna have a few questions you go through. Um, or they are geared towards, um, I want to just learn. I want to study, study, study. Or they're geared towards I just want to hang out. I just need friends. And so then when we think about that and we kind of think about where we're heading um as a church in terms of discipleship, like how do you create that space? And I think that's kind of how these groups have come out where we're really trying not to step outside of the vision of the church. So we're not trying to create friends for everybody, we're not trying to create lifelong communities of people that are gonna do life together for the rest of your life. We're trying to find a way to get people connected and learning to disciple and be discipled. And what does that look like outside the context of Sunday morning?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

So intentional spaces where people can grow in their faith, be challenged, and challenge each other to step towards Jesus in a real way.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Right. And so the where we've kind of gone out of is, and again, this is coming out of Acts 2. Uh, and we've talked lots about this before, right? So Acts 2 says, and they committed or devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to fellowship, and to prayer. And it's really interesting in my mind, at least. Like, so there's the before and the after. So you have this um post-Easter, they bring in the 12th guy, Pentecost shows up, 3,000 people added, and then you have this small little section that people kind of drown out. And then after that it goes, and then there were so many signs and wonders done, and people were just amazed. And the church continued to grow as God added to their number. Okay, those four things that Luke was like, okay, just so you guys know, pause. Here's how they spent their times, here's what they devoted themselves to. And I think what we have seen, and in some of this is our own growing, like those four things, everybody wants to do them, but not together. So we have the studiers in the church, right? And so when we launch a small group, all they want to do is study. That's it. And that's the only way they feel filled. And then you have those who just want fellowship, and that's the people who are just like, tell me about your marriage, tell me about your life, like, let's talk. And so you feel vulnerable and you feel you feel connected, but that's it. And then there's the breaking of bread, which there's different interpretations to it. And I'm not even a hundred percent sure that I'm gonna say, I am one hundred percent sure that you know the way we're taking this um is the distinction, but kind of the way I understand at least like the breaking of bread would be more of the actual doing of life together in a practical sense. And so there's the meals, but there's also like the who do you call when something goes wrong at your house? Can you guys come help me with this? Like it's almost like a carrying that load together. Whereas fellowship was that intentional connection, and the breaking of bread was more the doing the practical life together, and so I know we've kind of dwindled that down to just taking communion, but I mean, back in Acts time, they didn't have little cups of grape juice and little pieces of bread. So right, and so um that piece of it, so but there's people that love doing that, like they'll come over and they'll they'll build you a shed. Yeah, just don't talk to me about my life, right? Right, they'll come over, they'll do all this stuff, they'll give you the shirt off their back. We're not talking scripture, we're not talking anything else. And then there's the prayer people that are endlessly in your face about prayer, but they don't really they're not gonna show up to help. Right. And so figuring out okay, so these are the four things they devoted themselves to. And on a flip side, I don't know if you guys I find this really intriguing. If you look at denominations, they're sort of all built around these. You start looking at what the different ones are built around, it's very unique how different ones really focus on very specifically. Like we are the prayer church, we are the church that actually does something, we are a community church, yeah, right? And we are a church that stands on the word of God. Preach, brother. Amen. Right? Like that's it's just fascinating. They take one aspect of it.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Right. So they're already algorithmically determined where they're gonna be. No, I was just I've just talked a lot. I just feel like I'm late, I come in and I'm just gonna be able to do that. I feel like there's a wholeness to what is taking place in what they're saying. Um and I think th there's a reason why it's important to have each aspect. Right. I think there's an aspect to prayer that's found in the breaking of bread. And I think there's an aspect in the breaking of bread that's found in the teaching. And I think that there's some weaving together that does some revealing of what meaning and and depth and understanding is, but it's not found in the thing you're studying. Right. It's found in the thing you're avoiding. Right. And I think I think that sometimes is um yeah, I think maybe you know i th we we we've talked a lot about having like our positions, and then you, you know, let's say we have an opposing view on something and we don't really know each other, but then we decide to go out and have a meal together. Right. We just talk. We don't talk about our positions, but we talk about our lives. We talk about where we come from, we talk about then all of a sudden we realize that we're not that different. Right. All of a sudden we realize that we actually have very similar goals. All of a sudden we realize that your story really is informing why you're coming at it from the angle you are you're coming at it. And at the end of the day, we might have just a different approach to trying to solve a very similar thing. And then we end up like realizing, oh wait, the guy that I thought was my enemy is actually someone who understands me probably better than most people do, and that's why he's so loud about advocating to try to find a solution to this problem. And now we can actually agree because I can see that this dude has been through it and I've been through it. So now we connect on way more, but that required us to be out of our little programming. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

I love that example because I think too so if me and you were to disagree theologically, the temptation would be to strip away the breaking of bread, the fellowship, and the prayer, and we would focus solely on where we're divided. Right. But if you take that same situation and you were to say, okay, so me and you are going to disagree on blank, but that's only one small part of what we're gonna do for the evening. We're going to also pray together, we're gonna have a meal together, and we're gonna talk about life together. That isn't that one issue. Because I think what happens often in churches is you get so focused on that one thing, and then that's all the only thing. But it is very hard to hate someone when you just keep eating with them. Right. Like it you just you find different conversations.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

You cut when you're doing life together, yeah. Right. To think that we get so divided that even the paint on the wall or the the flooring choice of color becomes the predominant reason why we're upset, it becomes a little bit more problematic.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

So go on next, let's go through some okay. So we're gonna go pathway groups, and we're calling them pathway groups because you're gonna see in most of our um as we really unveil the vision in terms of like some of the the way we want you to see kind of, because I think words sometimes have a hard time painting a picture, but for us, we've talked about this idea of that um the the church is a very moving place, it's not static, and it is hard to keep up. So if you jump into, and for those of us who've only ever been at this church, like imagine jumping into something that's a bit different. You walk into Pentecostal church, or for me, my experience was walking to a Catholic church. I attended a funeral there probably 10 years ago, and all the guys on the fire hawk is one of our fire guys were looking at me because they're like, Well, you're a pastor, what are we doing here? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know where we're standing, I don't know where we're sitting, I don't know what's happening. And so, like, church is very much like for a lot of people. They walk in and it just feels like everybody's flying by and you're like, what is happening? And so we've chosen that kind of pathway, that roadway. And so, for this, like, when you get onto the road, when you choose to get here, how do we get you into a set of cars going on this roadway to the best, you know? And so then with these groups, it's really like, okay, the goal is to create intentional groups that we continue to grow in the same direction. We continue to disciple and be discipled and really stay focused on the mission. So those groups then that in we'll go kind of in order and I'll ask some questions and we can kind of go through them. But like, how the heck are we gonna find time? So that I think is the first thing anybody's gonna ask. Because the way we're gonna structure these groups, let me give you that structure, and then I'll ask you the question again. But like meeting once a month is not a small group. No, not a pathway group. It may be a small group, it may be a support group, it may be a social group, it's just not a pathway group. So, in order to actually establish connections, you need to meet two to four times a month.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Yeah. Yeah, that that would be two would be a minimum, four would be kind of like you're you're you're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Um I think four would be a lot for a lot of people. But depending on the stage of life, back in the day when we didn't have kids, four, four wouldn't seem a lot at all.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

But um, I think it's I think some of it is us stepping back and saying, okay, um so inside of this, one of the things that we've been challenged with um by some of the process that we've been going through is uh less but better. Um so one of the things that we want to make a distinction with is that we are actively looking to have intentional time for like in our calendaring of our weeks from a church level that is not so busy that this becomes too much. Like, and what I mean by that is that so one of the things that we're looking to do next year is like for our our group prayer time as a church, prayer summit, what we call it, our large group, we want to move those to a different day of the week and intentionally have it be like, you know, so the people that are helping with youth, the people that are helping with junior youth, the people that are helping with programming, we have one night where that happens per in the month, and that is what is like the focus of that week when that happens. So other programming will pause for that week so that we can actively do this because we believe it's important. So what we again, so this is an example of less but better. So what we want is that to be something that's predominant in that week because we believe it's important for us to corporally do that as a church. So in order to do that, we're gonna recognize that other things need to need to like slow or pause. So we're gonna lessen the calendar to make this available to happen. So that's something that is an example of like what we're looking at church-wide when it comes to availability of time. Um so we're doing that at a church level, but something that we want to recognize is that you know, things that are important to us, we make time for. So whether it's my kids' hockey schedule that requires two to three times to the arena a week, whether it's uh And that that would be rep level travel, correct? No, this is local.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

This is a whole other podcast. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

But suffice it to say that you know we have time to fit into our schedule the things that we deem to have the most value to our lives.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Because me and you thought about this early on, like right away off the get-go. Because really, so we're we're going through the process, right? And so as we're talking to Jonathan, we're um talking about our discipleship pathway, we're talking about you know what are the issues that we're facing. And no matter how you slice or dice it, no matter which way we looked at it, flipped the tables, it was like we need to find a way for people to connect. Right. That's it. There is no other way. So whatever you call this, whatever you you know want to label it, you have to. So for us, it's it's one of those that we don't have a choice. If we're gonna grow, you need to have people in your life. Right. We know this. So then from a uh, as me and you are arguing about this, because we're both fairly busy, but you start looking at the calendar and you kind of go, okay, but but it becomes a question of how much value is it to me to have people in my life that I can break bread with and have fun. Fellowship with and have study with and have prayer with. How much value is there? And what's the consequence when you don't? And so for us, it was one of those as like, you know, and I think I can speak for the whole elder board. All of us kind of go, okay, this is something we're gonna have to transition to, knowing it's gonna cost, but all believing this is the right direction. Then from an organizational standpoint, so Patrick mentioned part one, which I think is really important, too, we need to do less but better. But that also means we need to allow people to volunteer less, which is gonna mean other people need to step up. But one of the things we would really like to do, and kind of the model we're seeing, is um for the most part, people can volunteer somewhere in two spots at most. And if that one spot is like a significant spot, then just one. And finding a way of going, because it's unfair for us to say, look, I want you in a small group every other week at a minimum, and then I want you also loving your parents and your neighbors, and then I want you, you know, at least once a night at the church for this and twice at this. Like it's just not, it's not reasonable. And so we have to go, okay, well, what matters more to us? People's ability to serve on four committees or people having time. And so you're gonna see as we go through this a really, really intentional thing of going, I want you to not allow the church to be your excuse to not be in a pathway group. So that means we have to slow down some ministries. If we can, because again, you gotta look at it from the big picture. So um um what we would always say is that the way Satan would attack the church would be through families. If he can destroy the family unit, he can destroy a church, he can destroy, you know, my country, realistically. So then when we fight back, we go, okay, what do we need to strengthen? Well, we need to strengthen the family unit. And so if we're gonna say, well, it's more important for dad to leave the home once a week to go serve somewhere than it is for the dad and the mom and the kids to go somewhere and spend time in prayer, study, fellowship, and breaking a bread, then we're setting them up for failure. And so as you think about some of this, especially those of you guys who are busy, busy in in that stage with young kids or just you have gotten very committed with volunteering, it's not that we want to say, you know, the Lord won't let you serve more. We just want to make sure that these intentional gatherings happen. And if that means you have to step down from whatever ministry you're serving in in order for you to grow, we think that's worth it. And so will that cause some stress on some of the teams? Sure. Will we have to revamp and do some more training? And yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Well, we have to onboard some more people that are highly capable and are gifted to be able to serve in other areas so that they can have, you know, spots for all of us to be heading in the same direction? Absolutely. So there's a whole spectrum of what we see is going to need to happen for this to be done in a healthy way. And uh we we do. Like, I mean, up front, I like uh I I am my personality type. Y'all see me on Sunday morning. I love seeing everybody together. I'm a big fan of having everybody together, everybody's doing well, making sure everybody's okay. But so long as you leave. I do not I I just I am not built. I am a I am a weird cross-section of together and separate. And that is a um that is a unique thing. Um I I love being around people, I love shared activity, I love that kind of stuff, but um it has to be specific within a certain timeline so I know there's an end. And uh I don't know if that's a little bit of my my my inner jasper coming out that I need to know my schedule. I don't know. I'm not really sure. Uh my mom used to say that you know, the Queen of England could show up uh to their house and Wally would say hello and go back to his shop and go do what he was doing. Because he doesn't care. Like it it he was up to he had something that he was up to and that's what he was gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Um so I get some of the uh But and the reason the reason I think it's important that we share this is that people don't get to see it behind the scenes. And so when we say this stuff, I think often people are like, no, you don't. Like, no, we legit as we're sitting there. And so I proposed this. Right. And Patrick gave me that exact look. I'm like, really? And was pretty much like, no. And so then the argument that we had was both between us and then the rest of the staff and then all the elders was we cannot propose something that we don't want or are not willing to do. Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Right. We have to lead in it and be willing to be a part of it, which means examining our lives and being saying, okay, where do how do how does this fit? How will this work? And what is what is a model that'll work for us to be able to, you know, actually facilitate where we are building connection and community and at the same time um still have space in our lives for other things. Right. Um and I mean, if all of us were to examine our schedules, like I I distinctly remember going to uh Good Life Fitness back in the day when me and uh Juanita first got married. Dude, I saw your pictures the other day from when you guys got married. We were stunned. Oh, dude, we were we were like anyway. So we were we were going we were gonna go to the gym. We need to like, you know, ah, we're a young couple, let's go work out, blah, blah, blah. And uh like, I just don't have time. And they they do this like thing where they sit you down and they go, Well, what do you do in a day? You know, they like they've heard this excuse before. Oh, and they like basically walk through our entire day and they're like, so basically you have like 30 hours in your week that you're not doing anything, like like lots of time. Like, and you only need to be here for like you know 30 minutes. Like you're you come here four or five times a week. You still have 25 hours worth of time that's available. Like there's lots of and so of it, I think, is our willingness to have our comfort and our own kingdoms challenged. Um see that the giftings and the abilities and the time and the wisdom and the things that God has granted to us need to be shared. And not just kept to ourselves or distinctly to just our specific household family.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Well, and you know one of my one of my concerns, so when I think of my kids now, they're going to value what I value. And I start looking at some of that and going, man, like I take for granted, so at work, me and you and Trevor and Judy and Yesse or Mika, whatever, we have all these rich conversations. So I get a lot of the study, a lot of that kind of stuff we get here. Where are my kids gonna get that? Yeah, where do they see it? Right? Like, where where do they as they get it, you know, they leave youth and they no longer have that? Where are they gonna plug in? And then I think too, like I've had good conversations with my boys about like inviting people to church and they're and then we start talking about like what like a lot of their friends who don't know anything, like, where would they go? Like who would connect them? Who would walk alongside them? And so I think there's some there's there's a lot here that also ties back to purpose. Okay, so if the purpose is for us to become a church for everyone, and a church that people at any stage of faith, or not faith, can walk into, how do we create something that walks alongside them? So, on the one hand, we can have a million ministries. So we're gonna have a ministry for all single parents, for all the divorced parents, for all the grieving parents, for all and you go through the list of ministries you have to have, or we follow the lead of the early church and go, look, we don't actually even have a system, but here's the four things that we committed to. So we're gonna commit to study, we're gonna commit to breaking bread, to fellowship and to prayer. And so, really, what we're trying to do is say, okay, look, in our day and age, I think there's loneliness, I think there's um challenge with people feeling anxious, with social anxiety, like you name all those things, the busyness. If we can get people into one group where the nights are broken up intentionally. So, like, you know, and some of these details will have to be worked out, but just once a month at least, when you gather, you're gonna do a meal together. But when you're together every time, there's going to be a time for study, there's going to be a time for prayer, and there's going to be a time for fellowship. And we're we're going to set this up this way. So you can't just hijack the group and go, nope, we're just no, no. Like we want to take a holistic approach. And then the other thing we want to do is we're not going to ask you to sign up for life. No. Because these are not life groups. We're not asking you to make your best friends here. We're not asking you to leave your family and just come and no, this these are just your intentional discipleship groups. And the reason they're called pathway groups instead of discipleship groups is because discipleship has really been hijacked and it's become just a study. This is not just study. Yeah. This is about really helping people, wherever they are on their journey, get to the next step.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah, and the study people hear that is it's not just study, study's everything. Yeah. We we understand that, but it's just not.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

It's it wasn't to the disciples, it wasn't to the early church. It was a quarter. Right. And an important quarter. Don't get don't like I don't want to downplay any of that. But if you look at in what we what we saw during COVID, what we saw during any of these crazy moments, you see some of this stuff come out. People they didn't know how to fellowship because they didn't really have anybody connected, and so they suffered alone. Our Mennonite community is really good at breaking bread together. Like we do that really well. But we're not really open to prayer. We we don't do that part. So, anyways, creating the groups like that. Um, so kind of from a timeline standpiece, we're looking at like aiming for September through May. Two to four times a month, and then you take the summer off. You can socialize, you can whatever. Um, and then in the new year, if you feel like, man, that was not a group that really fit me well, then you move on. This isn't about, again, the goal is not to find um you everybody best friends. The goal is to create experiences and spaces where we can disciple and be discipled. Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

And for the general level of connectivity within the community to rise to a higher level through the avenue of these four things that the apostles devoted themselves to. Right. And we think it'll dramatically, you know, open the doorway and create pathways to other things. Maybe there are friendships that are there. Maybe there is depth of things that'll be developed, but it'll be through those four things.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

And so I think kind of in in kind of wrapping wrapping up here, um, because one of us was late and the other one has to go. And so you guys can figure out who's who. Um I I think where we go from here, the hope is to launch all these groups in September, same as the two services. Like a lot of this will go in conjunction. Um so what we're looking for from people is leaders, people willing to lead, people willing to host. And so over the next couple of weeks, we'll start sending out some of that material. We'll start sending out some of the um some of the signups. We want to train our leaders, but really what we're looking for again, because these groups are holistic, we want some of the pressure to drop. We are for the most part going to um have groups following along with what we're doing here as a church. Right. Right? Because again, just from a logical standpoint, the way we present it, like you guys pay us to preach on Sundays. Like, most of my salary is geared to me learning, studying, preparing, and presenting. Like that is most of what the church pays me specifically for. And then we believe that God is leading that because as we together as a church sort the stuff out. So then as we're going into small groups, let's let's keep studying that text. And so then in an average night, that's an hour and a half to two or something to that effect. We're gonna go through four or five questions, but it's not going to be an intense discussion and like let's look at all no, there's there's other spaces for that. Right? Like adult Sunday school is phenomenal for that. They dive deep, it's awesome. This isn't, it's just supposed to like we're gonna connect with that. So you know, like this last Sunday, this would be a perfect example. Like, so this was really an action Sunday. Okay, so as when you get to small group, okay, so you know, on Sunday, like what what did you feel compelled to decide on? Yeah, you know, those those types of questions so that we're all heading in that same direction. Um, and so we're really excited about it. We really think that where we are as a church, where God is leading us, um, and also just some of the holes that we've seen in people's lives in the sense of showing up. And uh it's hard to follow. Like when I when I think of I was reading through the book of Acts yesterday with my little guy, and we're reading uh it's chapter seven. And so Stephen is or Stefan, or I can't remember which way he corrected me, but no matter how I said it, he told me it was the other way. So, anyways, he's describing the whole Old Testament basically. All right, so here's what happened here, and then Joseph, and then this. If you don't know any of those stories, it's hard to catch up. And so then this provides you a space that you're like, all right, hey, what about this? What about that? Um, but doing it in the context of okay, and we're also gonna pray for each other, we're gonna get to know each other and just support each other, and we're gonna do meals together. And so you don't have to in a group agree with everything. You don't have to sit here and go, okay, well, which side of this? No, no. We're going to work at what Jesus said. So we're going to disciple each other, we're going to try to make disciples, we're going to do life together, and then see where it goes. And so it's eight to nine months of the year. And so we really hope it's gonna really, really um do some incredible things in our church. Um, something I'm excited about. Um, and so with that being said, any last remarks?

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Thanks for tuning in and listening to part two. Looking forward to seeing you this week.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Uh talk to you.