people Are hungering for connection and encouragement!
Congregations need fresh ways in this pandemic to connect, grow and send people. sunday morning worship is not enough!
The COVID-19 pandemic is a marathon.
Some church leaders are exhilarated and many are exhausted. We long to be alive with new possibilities yet are easily wearied with everything going on.
Whether online worship attendance numbers will hold up is an unknown. We know there are many people for whom there is a growing dis-connect with their congregation. While some congregations will return to in-person worship services and programming, many of their people will wait until there is a vaccine.
There are many shifts in attendance patterns due to the pandemic such as these very real examples:
A friend received a diagnosis of returning cancer. He is being very careful to protect himself from COVID-19. He attends no social events and won’t until there is a vaccine.
A busy couple with several small children used to attend their church faithfully while the kids were in Sunday School. Now the kids are uninterested in online worship and in the general uncertainty of the day the parents no longer engage worship online and they are in no church groups.
A neighbor began to attend a nearby church just as the pandemic struck. While attending online worship faithfully, the church website still only offers its pre-pandemic programs, which are no longer meeting, and there is no clear way for her to get to know anyone.
The issues are obvious. We want to prevent the attrition of those who are with us, provide entry to new friendships for the guest as well as long time members, and encourage spiritual growth and service. People on the margins may drift away and our most active people long for renewed relationships with dear ones.
Attempting to sustain connections by moving traditional church programming onto Zoom type platforms is likely inadequate. There are options that do work well on in person and on online platforms.
Pod-thinking gives us at least one solution.. Most pastors are swamped handling many demands such as weekly worship and want people of grace and initiative to help pull people together. This website is designed to offer the “why to” and the “how to” pull people into pods with a purpose.
We want to engage and re-engage people! Pod-based ministry is one way to do it! The term “pods” is useful in our current context, however, other terms include small groups, growth groups, ministry teams, micro-groups and so on.
If you have comments, additional resources or ideas, please use the contact link above. I’d love to know your experiences with this and your questions. Thanks - Stan
A pod with a purpose is a life-sustaining vessel supporting the people of God as they are sent to serve.
Pod-thinking offers a great way to spread the pastoral leadership load and enhance ministry!
The ministry of Jesus involved many pod style configurations such as the Twelve disciples, Mary, Joanna and Suzanna, Peter, James and John and so on. All of them were face-to-face groups that learned from Jesus, supported one another and were sent to serve!
Pods are do-able, expandable vessels that help people grow in their relationship with God, the people of God and the work of God in the world
Launching pods is not difficult. At the same time there are many ways to enhance pod-life. The purpose of this website is to give you enough information to have a pod-positive experience!
Pod-based ministry
A pod is a life-sustaining vessel that carries its members while they are sent to accomplish their work. Pods meet regularly face-to-face whether by Zoom or other online platforms or in-person, sitting in socially distanced arrangements whether outside or indoors.
Pods with a purpose are small, typically smaller than a dozen people.
Pods with a purpose may last for 7 weeks or have an ongoing life together
Pod leader meetings offer a way to develop leaders for the whole congregation.
* How do we begin? The key steps are below. The menu tabs above offer additional information.
POD WITH A PURPOSE DESIGN
A pod with a purpose functions best with a clear purpose, clear agreements for personal conduct and a clear program for its gatherings.
The Pod’s Purpose:
Congregations need fresh ways to enhance and extend their people’s lives in three areas:
A generic pod purpose: We will grow in our relationship with God, the people of God and the work of God in the world.
God – personal and corporate spiritual growth
The People of Christ - personal relationships, pastoral care and service to the church
The Work of God – personal and joint ministry to the world.
Modify the purpose to fit the group’s mission such as “We will grow in our relationship with God, the people of God and the work of God as we work to alleviate local hunger.”
Pod Meeting Locations
Six feet apart in a room,
or time online using Zoom,
or in a park or in the yard,
where social distancing isn’t hard.
Pod Meeting Times
Pods after Online Worship
Immediately after online worship is a great time to offer pod groups to people. Online platforms such as Zoom make this very easy. After worship pods are a great way to allow church people to connect personally and grow in faith and to provide entry points for new people. An upside to pods directly after online worship is that the people aren’t getting in cars and going to their next endeavor. They are still sitting in their homes and have the time to connect more personally in a pod.
Pods during the week
Pods may meet any time people can get together. One of the great advantages of the online platforms, such as Zoom, is that they make it possible for people to meet any time and from any where.
A great combination is the combination of a time of teaching, by a pastor or other leader, followed by the class moving to chat group pods. This combination, called a Discipleship Learning Community, is a powerful way to encourage spiritual growth and personal relationships. See more on this in the link above, “Pod Launch.”
Pod Size
Pods may vary in size, but pods are typically small. Just remember, the closeness of relationships increases as the size of the group decreases. So, for the most intensity of mutual support and spiritual growth, pods limit themselves to micro-group size of three to five members. However, pods of up to 14 may be very effective as well.
If a pod grows beyond 14 members, then some people will remain silent even though they are welcome to enter the discussion. Of course, pods may have larger numbers, and at times the loss of the depth of intimacy that small-ness provides is made up for the welcome more people feel.
The very definition of a small group is a group where everyone feels free to contribute. So, it is when a pod grows beyond “small-ness” that a pod may multiply or transform in to a Discipleship Learning Community (DLC)
Pod Agreements
The agreements are simple, grace-filled practices that affirm a growing relationship with God, with the people of God and with the work of God in the world. Shape them to fit your situation
They may be kept very simple, such as:
Personal daily prayer and Bible reading. See the Menu: Pod Resources above for some useful materials.
Mutual respect and mutual support.
The Open Chair: we are open to guests joining us and deciding to remain with us.
Multiplication when the pod grows larger then around 10 people.
Pod program - Format
Pods follow the simple Word-Share-Prayer discipleship triangle when they gather with the understanding that a gathering sends with the sending to serve.
Pod Meeting Format: Word-Share-Prayer
Adjust time for each section to fit total time available.
Word: 30 minutes of Bible study. The pod may use the Bible or Bible study materials.
Share: 30 minutes of sharing of personal blessings and needs
Prayer: 15 minutes of praying for one another by one another
Sent to serve - their service may be individual work or together work.
This format allows the inward journey and the outward journey, inward growing in relationship with our Lord and the people of God and outward as we serve with our Lord and the people of God.
Word (30 minutes of a 75-minute meeting. 20 minutes if a 45 minute after-worship pod)
The first third of the gathering centers on scripture. Our goal is relationships so this is mostly to be a time of discussion.
Allow 5 minutes for everyone to personally read and reflect on the study passage.
Discuss what the Biblical passage means and if appropriate, how to experience or apply it to our lives as individuals and as a society.
If there are people in the pod with significant biblical knowledge who tend to dominate the conversation, then suggest people only share insights gleaned from the passage in the previous week. In that way everyone is in on the same footing, seeking new insight.
If you use study materials or a resource book, limit your use of the material to the 30 minutes, or perhaps 45 minutes if the group meeting lasts 90 minutes.
Share (30 minutes of a 75-minute meeting. 15 minutes if a 45 minute after-worship pod)
The leader guides the pod to shift from "Bible study" to "sharing" or else the study will consume all the meeting time.
Share blessings and needs.
Blessings are where you have seen God at work in your own life in the past week - answered prayer, a joyful event, a person who blesses you and so forth.
Needs are concerns you have in which you want to see God at work in your life, in the lives of others, or in the world.
A useful question to help people share is, “What one thing do you want us to pray for or for others in the coming week?”
Prayer (15 minutes of a 75-minute meeting. 10 minutes if a 45 minute after-worship pod)
We continue to reach our goals of developing our relationship with God as we pray. Further, when we pray conversationally, out loud, we continue to develop our relationships with each other.
Allow everyone to pray but don’t press people to pray either. Model praying outloud.
Be sure and pray for every person in your pod every time you meet, whether they are present at that meeting or not.
Sent to Serve (service may be individual work or together work)
Send one another to ministry. Do this in your prayers, sending one another to be Christ's person in situations in home, work, and community.
Engage in pod service to church or community, something your pod does together, whether a contribution of time, effort, money as appropriate to the need you are addressing.
A pod is a life-sustaining vessel supporting the people of God as they are sent to serve.
Re-think your church website
Many church websites are virtually identical to their pre-pandemic format with the exception of information about online worship or guidelines for in-person worship.
People want to connect, so make their opportunities to connect through pods or other groups very clear! To do this most effectively, offer information on the homepage and work to be persuasive - why this is an important thing to do.
A Pod is a life-sustaining vessel supporting the people of God as they are sent to serve.
