Fall program of Believer group

VISION

• To build up a healthy spiritual environment, and to promote stable spiritual lives

1. Buildup of a healthy & spiritual environment:

• We are inspired by God's words and fellowship, not to take on more burden.
• We commit to God instead of feeling obligated to fulfill the responsibilities
• We aim to please God, not people
• God and His Word are our authority; no other words can take its place
• We admit we are imperfect but we are all living by God's grace
• Tolerable to errors, nonjudgmental yet speaking truth in love
• We are to encourage, not to criticize; we aim to support each other

2. Believers are encouraged to have:

• Regular spiritual time with God (1).
• Daily prayers and Bible reading schedule
• Always to be ready to witness the Lord's Gospel and Grace
• Long-term spiritual goal
• Discipleship training
• To make commitment to BCBSG by:

• Regular Bible study

  Help and pray for group fellowship growth of BCBSG

  Participate in weekly prayer meeting (Friday 7:00 PM at Bible study place)

  Participate in monthly prayer meeting

  Arrive on time (7:30 PM) for singspiration

3. Quality Bible study

• We enjoy Bible study
• We encourage all believers to prepare for Bible study before Friday, and finish reading outline and questionaire provided by Bible study leaders.
• Think, ask, share, and learn during discussion.
• Live out God's words and witness His faithfulness

4. Friends of seekers

• Help Gospel ministry, pray for Gospel coworkers and Gospel ministry, and assist the evangelical events of BCBSG
• Learn to love seekers with Jesus' love; develop true friendship with seekers; learn and practice how to bring non-believers to God (2).
• Care for our community (New students of pickup…)
• Provide ride services

5. Fellowship

• Continue the programs "Friends help friends" and "Secret Prayer angels"
• Quality SGN with specific goals

6. Grouping and group leadership

After summer session, we will have 2 sessions, fall and spring. Each session has own grouping format. This fall we will keep the grouping format in August but with micro-adjustment. Whether we regroup after fall depends on the assessment of fall group fellowship.

We have 2 groups. Each group has 1 group coordinator and 3 Bible study leaders. They make commitment one session a time. The benefits are:

• They can make their best efforts within a reasonable period of time
• More b/s have chances to serve

To avoid the overload, the group leaderships are mutually exclusive (3).

Responsibilities of Bible study leaders

• Regularly participate in pre-study on Thursday evening
• Help group members to prepare for Bible studies (Outline the passage and distribute it with questionnaire to the group)
• Lead Bible study on Friday (each Bible study leader takes a turn a month)
• Lead sharing and prayer after Bible study.
• Know about b/s' spiritual needs
• Be witnesses of God’s words.

To improve Bible study skills and help find out the spiritual gifts and talents, we will assess Bible study leadership by the end of each session. The assessment is based on feedback from group members and self-assessment done by Bible study leaders.

Responsibilities of group coordinators

• Assist the believer group leader for group administration jobs.
• Promote and follow up the group programs
• Help new b/s to adjust to the group environment
• Collect the prayer notes and offering bag after Bible study and hand them into the prayer coordinator and treasurer, respectively.

Footnotes:

(1) We would find resources (web links, books, seminar, or retreat) to promote our daily spiritual time with God.

(2) I am thinking of promoting a program that each member has one or two particular seeker/non-believer friends and help them know God and Gospel, not only by inviting them to evangelic events but also influencing them in daily lives. The program also verifies our faith, daily devotion, and knowledge about God and Gospel. We may share our experience in sharing and prayer time on Friday to pray for and help each other. By the end of April, 2006, we may evaluate the program.

(3) One of reasons is, most of group coordinators and Bible study leaders are actually playing the roles of coworker in BCBSG as well.