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Small Groups at SCC

February 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

This past Sunday, Mark Aupperlee, our Small Groups team leader handed out an excellent sheet sumarizing our small group philosophy and method at SCC.  I thought it was good enough to post for others to see.

Sycamore Creek Church

Small Groups at SCC

At Sycamore Creek Church we believe that small groups are essential for spiritual growth. We orient spiritual growth at SCC around a three-part process of connecting, growing, and serving. A small group is a committed group of people who are connecting (to God and one another through social events and celebration), growing (in the character of Christ by holding one another accountable to worship teaching content), and serving (the church and through missions commitment to the community).

Thus, small groups at Sycamore Creek Church have three objectives: Connecting, Growing, Serving.

Connecting
-small group meeting two times per month
-host a “connect event” (social event) one time per year
-regularly attend worship services
-attend GroupLink connection event twice a year

Why be in a small group?
http://www.smallgroups.com/articles/2011/sgreallyabout.html

Growing
-accountability to each other in order to grow in Christ
-regular sharing of struggles and celebrations
-discussion and application of sermon content from worship services

Why sermon-based small groups?
http://www.smallgroups.com/articles/2011/iamsuchabeliever.html

Serving
-serve each other in the group
-regular mission to the greater Lansing area
-encourage individuals to serve within a ministry of the church

Why small groups and mission?
http://www.smallgroups.com/articles/2010/whysgonmission.html

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Weekly Pizza and the Pastor Small Group

September 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Leo's LodgeLooking for a way to explore further each Sunday’s message and apply it to your life?  Want to get to know Pastor Tom better?  Like to eat good pizza?  Then the new Pizza and the Pastor small group on Sundays is perfect for you!  Beginning Sunday, September 30th pastor Tom will lead a small group that meets after church each week from 1:00-2:00PMish at Leo’s Lodge.  It is open to men and women.  There won’t be any preparation you have to do. Just show up and discuss the teaching from the morning over good pizza.  We’ll split the cost of the pizza (Leo’s has a Sunday special – buy on pizza get one free) and each person will cover their own drinks.  For more info email tomarthur@sycamorecreekchurch.org.

What: Sermon Based Small Group
When: Sundays from 1:00PM to 2:00 PMish
Where: Leo’s Lodge (Jolly and Dunkel)
Why: To grow in the character of Christ
How: Discussion over pizza

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Newsletter – Sunday Morning’s Not Enough

September 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Small GroupsPeace Friends!

You will never grow in your faith if all you are doing is coming to worship on Sunday morning.  Whew!  That’s a heck of a way to start the newsletter, but it’s true.

Let me explain: You hear, you forget.  You see, you remember.   You do, you understand. Duke University’s Coach K, the winningest coach in NCAA history, said that.  He obviously knows something about helping people grow into all that they can become.

Mostly what we do on Sunday morning is hear.  We hear the songs.  We hear the message.  Our worship team tries hard to also help you see and do, but there’s only so much seeing and doing you can accomplish on a Sunday morning with such a large crowd.  So if all you do is hear, then what happens?  You forget.  Nothing in your life changes.

In order to see and do you must join a small group.  In a small group you will more fully see how others are living the faith (faith is caught more than it is taught), and you’ll have the chance to be held accountable to “doing” the faith between one meeting and the next.  I’d like to share with you part of an email I recently received from someone in our church:

I have grown spiritually more from small group participation than from anything else (bible study, church attendance, prayer, and other efforts at personal spiritual growth.)  I am a better Christian and closer to God because I admitted in my small group exactly who I was, my sins, my fears, my failures, and my hopes and dreams.  It was a safe place to let my habits, hurts, and hang-ups, be admitted and addressed.  These people who cared about me and didn’t judge me, gave me things I needed to think about.  Some of my beliefs and attitudes that were written in stone started crumbling.  Thank you God!

Wow!  That’s awesome.  And it will never happen just on a Sunday morning.  So are you in a small group?  There are a lot of excuses we all use to not join a small group.  We don’t have the time (then you’re too busy!).  None of the small groups fit my schedule (then start one with your friends!).  I’ve tried it before and didn’t get much out of it (then try it again!).  I’m too shy to go meet a bunch of people I don’t know (then get over you shyness and be assertive!).  I’m scared of opening up to people (then ask God to give you courage!).  There are no excuses.  Join a small group!  You’ll find listed below all of the small groups that our church offers.  Do it right now.  Email the leader.  Get connected.  Start hearing, seeing, and doing and soon you’ll begin to experience real transformation in your life.  That’s what I’m praying for each person in our church.  May it be true in your life.

Peace,
Tom

P.S. Each small group also makes a commitment to a local mission.  So joining a small group means you’re knocking out two birds with one stone: growing and serving in the community. We can’t make it any easier than that!

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Mixin It Up

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Mixin It Up

What happens when you mix up small groups and missions? You get Mixin It Up! At the beginning of 2011 we’ll be exploring this new initiative in our church that mixes small groups and missions. Then for two months our small groups will be exploring a different service opportunity each week in our community with the goal to make a commitment to serving one of them. This will mean that if you?re part of one of SCC’s small groups, you will only have to make one commitment to cover two growth areas: small groups and missions. We’re mixin it up! That’s about as easy as we can make it to both grow in the character of Christ and serve the community. The only thing you have to do is connect to a small group. Do it in 2011!

January 16th – A Basic Recipe

January 23rd – A Basic Ingredient: Friendship

January 30th – Mix with vs. Mix to

February 6th – Mixin in Justice

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Mixin it Up! Small Groups and Missions

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Peace, Friends!

At the beginning of every year I take some time to make personal goals and commitments for the New Year.  It’s not exactly the same as New Year’s resolutions because they tend to be positive in nature (what I want to do) rather than negative (what I want to stop doing).  What commitments will you make this year?

Of course in the midst of new commitments are some lasting commitments that I’ve made that cross over any given year.  I’ve made a life-long commitment to my wife and my son.  I’ve made a commitment to my calling as a pastor.  I’ve made a commitment to my friends.  I’ve also made some commitments to my church.

One of the commitments we all who are members of Sycamore Creek Church make is to join some kind of a small group.  Exactly what small group we join is very flexible, but the spirit of the commitment is to connect regularly (I’d say weekly or at a minimum every other week) with other Christians to grow in the character of Christ.

Some members live out that commitment by finding a community small group that is run by another church or group of Christians.  Other members live out that commitment by finding unique and creative ways to be in a small group.  But most members of SCC live out that commitment by joining one of Sycamore Creek’s small groups.

Twice a year we host a Group Link in which all people who attend SCC have an opportunity to see what small groups are available.  Group Link will be taking place THIS SUNDAY, January 16th between the two services.  For those who are members and made a commitment to be in a small group when you joined SCC, this is a great opportunity for you to live into that commitment.

Mixin It UpI am very excited about this year’s Group Link because during the first several months of 2011 we will be doing a church-wide initiative called Mixin It Up in which we’ll be “mixin” our small group and missions ministry together.  For two months our small groups will be exploring a different service opportunity each week in our community with the goal to make a commitment to serving one of them.  The exact commitment (once a year, once a month, etc.) will be up to each small group and the nature of the service opportunity.  This will mean that if you’re part of one of SCC’s small groups, you will only have to make one commitment to cover two growth areas: small groups and missions.  We’re mixin it up!  That’s about as easy as we can make it to both grow in the character of Christ and serve the community.  The only thing you have to do is connect to a small group.  Come to Group Link or email Mark Aupperlee, our small group leader, about finding a small group.  Do it in 2011!

Peace,
Tom

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A Ten-Year Vision for SCC

April 19, 2010 By

Peace, Friends!

On Sunday, April 18th at our vision meeting I presented five points toward a 10-year vision for SCC.  Let me take a moment and share in brief those five points of vision.

First, we will strengthen the execution of our current core values by following through on the dialogue group must-dos.  Not sure what our core values are?  You can read them on the website here.  We are generally heading in the right direction.  The next four vision points build on strengths that already exist at SCC and expand on our faithfulness in following Jesus.

Second, we will love and serve the poor and poor in spirit in our church and community by building and sustaining diverse friendships through support groups and small groups committing to missions.  SCC is great at collecting items and money, and we can add to this strength by giving our time to show the love of Christ to one another and our community.

Third, we will rework membership and double the navigating members by beginning a process to allow participating members to vote, continuing to encourage Financial Peace University principles, and instituting a yearly Commitment Sunday where members and regular attenders are given the opportunity to grow spiritually by making a financial commitment to SCC’s mission, to ignite authentic life in Christ.

Fourth, we will prepare to own a building by developing a three to five-year capital campaign during our 10-year anniversary this fall.  This capital campaign will have four priorities:

  1. We will tithe (10%) what we receive toward one or more missions;
  2. We will increase our current space to meet current needs (especially the space needs of our youth);
  3. We will pay off the mortgage on the pastor’s house ($116,000);
  4. We will use the rest to prepare to own a building (architect fees, down payment, etc.).

One last way this money may be used is to hire a consultant to help us run this capital campaign.  A capital campaign will put us in a strong place to own a building in three to five years which will help establish our presence in the community and provide stability for long-term growth which is essential to accomplish the fifth vision point.

Fifth, we will plant a church in 10+ years by giving 50-100 members to plant a totally independent church or a site/satellite campus.  This is a natural extension of our mission, and it is in our DNA as a church that was planted by another church.  This will allow us to grow while also staying relatively small and intimate.

The first three vision points which are short-term are pretty clear.  The last two which are long-term are a little less clear, but still clear enough to give us direction for the steps we need to take right now.  It is my hope that these vision points will lift our eyes from the ground that is immediately before us and focus them on the horizon of what God is dreaming for us and calling us to.  If you’d like a more detailed explanation of why I think each of these vision points is where God is leading us, you can find it our my blog here and post questions or comments there.  If you’ve got further questions, feel free to drop me an email.

Psalm 126 says, When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, then we were like those who dream. These five vision points are a dream for SCC.  I believe they are part of God’s dream for SCC.  Will you join the dream?

Peace,
Tom

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