Big Group Level 

Monthly Basis:

All Staff Gatherings

Once a month (taking certain months off each year around holidays or summer) we do an all-staff gathering that spouses, interns, and residents are all welcome to attend (Lay Elders are also invited, but due to the daytime schedule, it’s hard for them to attend). These gatherings run from 10 AM to 2 PM on a Tuesday.

Here are components of these gatherings. Some happen every month, some are intermittent:

• Worship.
• Vision oriented teaching from Renaut (LP) or myself (XP).
• Games.
• We bring in guest speakers at times to talk about something of developmental benefit for the team. (We’ve had experts on budgeting, team development, soul care, etc.)
• Two to four times a year we assign a book to read and discuss at our next all staff gathering. (The team is currently reading “Breaking the Islam Code” by JD Grear.)
• Introduce new staff and give everyone a chance to get to know them with a few questions.
• Celebrate milestone like births, marriages, engagements, etc.
• Talk through shifts happening in the organizational chart or various ministries.
• Remind the team of various aspects of our guidelines and procedures.
• Celebrate the team through something we call “Throwing Sun” where people can shout out encouragement to fellow team members for something they’ve seen in the last month.
• Prepare the team for things that are coming down the road.
• Leverage in-house experts to talk through areas of development. For example, we had Brady teach on LGBTQ issues one month and Kerri-ann teach on issues related to Special Needs Awareness.
• In 2018, we are adding segment called “Meet the Elders” where one lay Elder each month will come in and be interviewed.

Read the original article on Backstage Pastors HERE.