Here at Lancaster Baptist Church we like to set aside two Sunday nights a year (one in the spring and one in the fall) to have a special time of fellowship during what we call a “Care Group Fellowship Night.”
A care group is a smaller group of people within each adult Bible fellowship or Sunday school class. Throughout the year, we have “care group leaders” in each class who assist our teachers by encouraging, helping, praying for, and following up with members of the class. During these two special Sunday evenings, we ask each care group to have a get together in their home following the evening service.
For our Care Group Fellowship Nights, we provide childcare on our campus which lasts for a couple of hours after the service dismissal. This allows the parents to get some quality time with their class. Each care group leader provides a meal and a word of encouragement to their group and then allows for a time of talking and getting to know each other.
This fellowship night is very important as it provides a time for building relationships outside of a normal activity or church service. And because of it’s importance, we ask each of our care group leaders to do the following:
COORDINATE WITH THEIR TEACHER. It is essential that each care group leader find out from the teacher how this fellowship night will work for their class individually. If a care group leader lives farther from the church than is convenient, the teacher may choose a home of a family that lives closer to the church and that has enough room to hold a good amount of people. Care group leaders who may not be hosting a fellowship night in their own home should cohost with another couple in the class so they can all be involved.
ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO ATTEND. Every care group leader should be excited and inviting their group to attend. For many class members, this may be one of the only Sunday nights they go to a service, so they need to be invited and encouraged to come. A good byproduct of this night can be that sometimes it helps people to see what a Sunday evening service is like and see just how helpful the preaching can be for their family. The teachers should already be encouraging them to come, but they need help and they need people excited about it!
PLAN THE REFRESHMENTS. Most classes choose to do a potluck style so that no one person has to bear the burden of it all, but you want to make sure you have some variety as well. If you have two or three care group leaders cohosting at one house, maybe each leader could be in charge of something different. Get others involved! Some people are just looking for an opportunity to get involved, so don’t be afraid to ask (but don’t pressure them either).
SHARE TESTIMONIES AND ASK FOR PRAYER REQUESTS. During the event, there should be a time to share testimonies. There should be more talked about than just sports and hobbies, but it should be the goal to get beyond that and talk about the things of the Lord. These could include salvation testimonies, an answer to prayer, just what God is doing in individual lives, or a prayer request. Many people are carrying burdens, and one thing that care group leaders should be in tune with is the burdens of the class members.
ENCOURAGE GROWTH. Those leading a care group fellowship should take some time to encourage the class members to grow. Pastor preaches during the service so it doesn’t need to be a repeat or sequel, but there should be a brief time devotionally that could be a help and a blessing to those present. An area that could easily be talked about in this environment could be faithfulness to church, class, giving, and soulwinning.
PRAY. Each fellowship should have a time of prayer. It doesn’t need to be lengthly, but it should be more than just praying for the food.
UPDATE THEIR TEACHER. There may be some prayer requests that are shared or a need that was expressed, and those should be relayed to the teacher. Each care group should update their teacher with the blessings, prayer requests, and any other updates that they need to know about.
These ideas are very simple and practical, but they can make for a great fellowship night that helps your entire church family.
