We recently adapted this idea in a dream group that I was leading. It felt suprisingly risky to lead, but the feedback has been wonderful.
The idea is simply to create 45mins (or however long you want to aim at) of silence and space.
The only props were a lit candle, some paper and pens for those who wanted them, and some quotes that we showed on a screen. The quotes included bible passages and some of Henri Nouwen’s writings on silence. During each ten minute period, they were up for just a couple of minutes, followed by eight minutes blank screen and then a prompt (such as “25 minutes left”). So for most of the time, the screen was blank.
A number of people were astonished at the way time seemed to speed up, rather than drag, and felt that it sparked a hunger in them for their own regular space with God.
Most loved it, although a few found it very uncomfortable, although unpacking the reasons for that has been very fruitful.
Lots of people have used the Singapore model of 4W’s (Welcome, Worship, Word & Witness) as a structure for cell meetings.
Laurence Singlehurst together with a friend who works in the city developed an alternative that particularly suits short meetings, in the workplace that gather at the start of the day or over lunch.
Presence: Some simple reflection or activity that helps you to all become aware of the presence of God as you gather (eg read a Psalm)
Pressures: Sharing together the pressures that life has at work, home, etc and praying for one another
Purpose: Focussing on the purpose God has for you in that workplace - your mission.
It clearly mirrors the up:in:out lifeshape that many have found really helpful.
I’ve used this loads of times for small groups in the dream network.
Spend the first half of the evening catching up with each other and discussing a project or initiative you’re all involved in. Then…
-Light a candle.
-Put on some chilled out music.
-Use a compline liturgy (severely pruned down if it’s as long and wordy as the common worship compline).
-When you get to the ‘intercessions’ part allow time for some sort of open prayer for one another and the stuff you’ve discussed.
btw I wasn’t a fan of the daily office at college, but I love this approach.
This is as simple as it gets, but easily overlooked. Telling our own story, while others listen attentively, and hearing those of others, builds trust and community. So find some ways to hear each other’s stories. For example…
1. Have simple questions like “what would a snapshot of you when you were thirteen show us?”
2. Each time you meet, set aside up to an hour where one member of the group tells their own story. They could bring photos or other props. Then the whole group does some sort of simple creative prayer for that person. Keep this going, either each time you meet, or periodically, until everyone has had their turn. New people may join and therefore have missed some of the process, but they’ll still pick up the level of trust and openness in the group.
Jonny Baker’s recent post highlighted the need for creative resources for small groups.
We’d like to use this site as a place to share ideas in a kind of “gift economy”. So we’re starting a series called “community chest” where we’ll post simple worship or group activities that have worked in cells or small missional communities. Feel free to adapt and change them, and email your own ones in to add to the collection.
One of the most helpful insights into team/cell dynamics is knowing the typical cycle that groups go through. There are various versions, the most popular being ‘forming: storming: norming: peforming’. It certainly helps me to know that ‘storming’ is an important and inevitable part of the process rather than a sign of failure (storming is the honeymoon ends, and we stop become disillusioned, simply because we’re not maintaining the illusion of pretending to be nice to each other all the time.
I’ve also found the Belbin team roles which, I teach on regularly, really useful.
Over the past eighteen months though, I’ve found an even more helpful framework from a gem of a book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. It’s a ‘must read’ for anyone leading a team/cell/missional community.
It’s a management/business book which comes in the form of a simple fictional (and slightly cheesy) story through which he gives a framework for understanding five issues that most often hold teams back. Each ‘dysfunction’ is caused by a failure to address the previous one.
They are
1. Lack of trust: We’re working together but I don’t share anything vulnerable of myself in the process.
2. Lack of conflict: We don’t genuinely say what we think as issues are discussed, feeling free to disagree vigorously.
3. Lack of ownership: Because I didn’t express my reservations, I don’t fully buy into the process and decisions.
4. Lack of accountability: We don’t hold one another accountable to follow through on the things we are each responsible for.
5. Lack of commitment to team results: To use a football analogy (painfully current!) a player finishes a match elated that he scored a hat-trick even though his team lots 4-3.
Lencioni’s writing here and in some of his other books on conflict as something not just good but essential is particularly helpful. (In Death by Meeting for example he reckons that lack of the right sort of conflict is the reason most meetings are boring).
by Jonny Baker
In small mission communities or cells part of the adventure is finding ways to pray and fuel one another’s faith. But many of the ways of worshipping in a larger congregation simply don’t translate. Hopefully through Anglican Cell UK we can share ideas and resources for prayer, worship and spirituality that do work well in smaller groups.
Conversation, sharing bread and wine round the meal table, listening to a music track, informal prayer, taking part in a simple creative activity or ritual, using liturgies, drawing on the practices of contemplative prayer, watching a video on a tv, and pinching ideas from alternative worship groups are some of the things I’ve found work well. Unless you have a particularly musical group, singing always seems to dive bomb in a small group!
Proost is a small creative company that I set up about ten years ago with two friends. It began as a record label but this summer we gave it a total revamp branching out into publishing short movies and books as well as music. And we have shifted so that the content is all downloadable from a new web site.
There’s lots that could work really well in a small group. The movies are short films of 3-4 minutes. Follow Jesus’ journey into the wilderness with Si Smith’s 40 or Jesus’ journey to the cross with Jon Birch’s manga style Twelve Stations animation. The quality of the artistry is superb and several have an appeal that runs across all ages. The latest addition (we add new content each month) is 25 comic pages telling the Christmas story with accompanying digital advent calendar and cardboard cut out models for each day of advent. These are great fun.
The Pocket Liturgies series capture the liturgies of communities such as Grace in London or Sanctuary in Bath and lots of the prayers and reflections will translate well. Mark Berry in Telford has written one of the books Navigatio, all of which has come out of their small group gatherings round the meal table on a Thursday night.
There is a media player integrated into the proost web site so that you can listen to samples of all music tracks and watch clips from all the movies. The content is now fully downloadable. You can access it and buy it when you see something you like but the simplest way is to subscribe. It’s incredible value at £60 a year which gives you access to all the back catalogue as well as new downloadable content which will be added each month.
When you subscribe, enter the coupon code PRSUBACUK and you will receive a 10% discount!
Visit proost at www.proost.co.uk
Sally Gaze is organising a Norfolk cell training day with Paul Bayes (National Mission and Evangelism advisor) on 26th Jan 08. You can download the flyer and booking form here as a Word doc or contact Sally for more info.
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