A few years ago, I took a class on John Wesley. During the class, we talked about covenant groups, the beginning of Methodism. That same year, we did our local mission week. I decided to call it Methodistswag week. And, in addition to mission, we also focused on being Methodist, the 3 simple rules, and divided into covenant groups. The week changed our group dramatically in many ways. But, one of the biggest was having covenant groups. So, from then on, we have had covenant groups during mission week.
The group is divided into smaller groups of 3 or 4 people plus a leader. I divide based on personality, spiritual gifts, and life experiences. On the first day, they meet and look at a list of questions similar to the questions of the original groups. They pick 3 or 4 of the 25 questions and I encourage them to pick at least 1 hard question.
In order to help you understand how it works, I will share about this year's group that I led. I had a leader who can't stay up late so I figured I would be leading their night meetings. But, in case I wasn't, I wanted to give him the group who was easiest to lead because they had done it several times before. So, I put 3 of my youth who have the gift of leadership together. My 4th member of this group was an experiment and I'm not sure if I just got lucky or if it would always work. I had 1 youth who had never been on a trip before. I put him in there even though he was the youngest and most immature. He also shows signs of being a leader. My goal was to get the other 3 to use their leadership skills to pull him into his leadership role.
The 1st night they picked questions. They couldn't decide and picked more than they needed to. Am I self- conscious, self-pitying, or self- justifying? Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful? Is Christ real to me? Do I grumble and complain constantly? What known sins or temptations have you met with since we last met? Not easy questions, right? So, I was pretty proud of them for taking this on. The next morning, we met briefly for a devotion and then a quick question discussion. We asked about ways to focus on the questions. Basically, it's a reminder of what to focus on and what to help our group focus on during the day.
That night, my suspicions we fulfilled when my group talked forever. After covenant group, we had our big group worship time and I had 2 other groups patiently waiting for us. So, I switched the schedule to covenant groups after worship time. That worked much better. By the 2nd or 3rd night, the group was really close and sharing deep conversations. The youngest was still acting squirrely, as most 12 year old boys do. Then something awesome happened! The 3 older ones started holding him accountable in a loving way. He admitted that getting people mad was amusing to him and they explained to him that there were better ways. By the next morning, I saw a dramatic change in him. Later in the week, one of the group members was upset during group time. She stated that we should just move on rather than talking to her about the issues. The youngest member held her accountable by saying "The other day, I just wanted to go to bed and you all kept talking to me about my issues. What makes you think we are going to just move on now?" It was so awesome to see how he had grown and was learning from his older friends, and how he felt comfortable enough to then hold them accountable. By the end of the week, the youngest member of the group was well on his way to becoming a group leader.
That's what the covenant groups do, hold each other accountable, help them learn to trust and grow with each other, and learn how to work on their own issues with people there to support them. Covenant groups help develop a spiritual growth and awareness that lasts beyond the mission week and a bond between the group members that continues.
For more information or a list of the question options I use, please comment here and I will send them to you.
The group is divided into smaller groups of 3 or 4 people plus a leader. I divide based on personality, spiritual gifts, and life experiences. On the first day, they meet and look at a list of questions similar to the questions of the original groups. They pick 3 or 4 of the 25 questions and I encourage them to pick at least 1 hard question.
In order to help you understand how it works, I will share about this year's group that I led. I had a leader who can't stay up late so I figured I would be leading their night meetings. But, in case I wasn't, I wanted to give him the group who was easiest to lead because they had done it several times before. So, I put 3 of my youth who have the gift of leadership together. My 4th member of this group was an experiment and I'm not sure if I just got lucky or if it would always work. I had 1 youth who had never been on a trip before. I put him in there even though he was the youngest and most immature. He also shows signs of being a leader. My goal was to get the other 3 to use their leadership skills to pull him into his leadership role.
The 1st night they picked questions. They couldn't decide and picked more than they needed to. Am I self- conscious, self-pitying, or self- justifying? Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful? Is Christ real to me? Do I grumble and complain constantly? What known sins or temptations have you met with since we last met? Not easy questions, right? So, I was pretty proud of them for taking this on. The next morning, we met briefly for a devotion and then a quick question discussion. We asked about ways to focus on the questions. Basically, it's a reminder of what to focus on and what to help our group focus on during the day.
That night, my suspicions we fulfilled when my group talked forever. After covenant group, we had our big group worship time and I had 2 other groups patiently waiting for us. So, I switched the schedule to covenant groups after worship time. That worked much better. By the 2nd or 3rd night, the group was really close and sharing deep conversations. The youngest was still acting squirrely, as most 12 year old boys do. Then something awesome happened! The 3 older ones started holding him accountable in a loving way. He admitted that getting people mad was amusing to him and they explained to him that there were better ways. By the next morning, I saw a dramatic change in him. Later in the week, one of the group members was upset during group time. She stated that we should just move on rather than talking to her about the issues. The youngest member held her accountable by saying "The other day, I just wanted to go to bed and you all kept talking to me about my issues. What makes you think we are going to just move on now?" It was so awesome to see how he had grown and was learning from his older friends, and how he felt comfortable enough to then hold them accountable. By the end of the week, the youngest member of the group was well on his way to becoming a group leader.
That's what the covenant groups do, hold each other accountable, help them learn to trust and grow with each other, and learn how to work on their own issues with people there to support them. Covenant groups help develop a spiritual growth and awareness that lasts beyond the mission week and a bond between the group members that continues.
For more information or a list of the question options I use, please comment here and I will send them to you.
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