Outreach Clusters are a midway stepping mechanism for those who are responsive to your God stories and babies in the faith.
Outreach Clusters provide an assimilation mechanism for those who show interest in faith but would be intimidated by attending a worship service at your church—for now.
Every Outreach Cluster has a leader who organizes and communicates to the 15-20 people who participate in the cluster.
How does it work?
- Let’s say you have been sharing God stories with your colleague, Paul, at work.
- Paul is open to Christianity and has introduced you to his wife Cindy, who is also receptive.
- You recognize that Paul and Cindy may be overwhelmed by attending your church right now. So you invite them instead to join you for a fun time with your Outreach Cluster.
- You tell them a little bit about your cluster, called “Radiate.” This cluster is made up of people from your church who also work in the medical field. Since Cindy is a nurse, you think that might be a good fit for them.
- Those in Radiate include doctors, nurses, a janitor at a hospital, a couple who are pharmacists, and a man who works for a medical supply company and his wife.
- Radiate is having a picnic next month at North Ridge Park. You invite Paul and Cindy to come with you to this group. You pick them up and take them to the gathering.
In the course of your time at the Radiate picnic, you introduce Paul and Cindy to other people from your church. This is when they begin to meet other Christians and they see that other Christians have fun. They also may meet a few other guests, brought by others who are part of Radiate.
- The leader welcomes everyone. You publicly introduce Paul and Cindy to the group but later, you intentionally introduce them to many of the people one on one.
- Paul and Cindy begin to develop relationships with others from your church during this picnic.
- The leader asks one of the church members to pray for the meal.
- Before people begin leaving, the leader asks those in Radiate to share anything God has done in their lives lately.
- Now Paul and Cindy learn that there are others, besides you, who have God stories.
We’ll catch up with Radiate tomorrow.
If you would like to know more, you can also subscribe to my podcast on Apple Podcast and Google Play. We will expand on this theme further in our series beginning on March 6, 2018.
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