SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Horatio Harumph:
Sure once you go down the route of using materials/courses or even creating your own you get into the 'time' territory etc.
I appreciate it cost a lot to devise Alpha.
I would love to see group led topics as opposed to having 'someone to develop topics and questions, find good resources and ways of presenting challenging material'.
A group that has an interest will create its own topics and conversation. Perhaps you would need one or two people with strong biblical knowledge or views that represented whichever denomination or faith you are within the confines of to put across their view .. perhaps.
I do find that some church small groups I've attended, including Heretics Anonymous, tend to be too dominated by the organiser. But that's not because they've been organised, but because of the way they've been organised, I'd say.
quote:
But actually, so far, something so rigid and structured has not worked for me, where as the best places of learning, especially about faith have been those 'thrown in a room' moments, or the one to one friendships I have had with Christians who have taught me no end.
Those are great moments. But once you start to meet on a regular basis then you're no longer being 'thrown in a room'. You're going to have a developing group dynamic that settles and hardens over time. I imagine that the Alpha group leader's materials touch on how the leader should manage that dynamic, but any regular group will have to face similar issues, so it's a good to have some idea of how to deal wtih them.
Also, re materials being unnecessary - you're assuming that there will be no kinethetic or visual people in the group. But there may be - and if there aren't, you might start wondering why not, especially if that deficiency overlaps with class/gender/age issues. Many people find the use of materials they can see or touch helpful.
Having said all that, I'm fascinated by the concept of organic church, which represents a much more fluid, interactive, unprogrammed form of church gathering than we usually see.
Posts: 6668 | From: UK | Registered: Feb 2012
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