Thank you to everyone who attended the potluck this past Sunday!  We hope you were able to connect with someone new, learned about Connecting Groups, and got encouraged to connect with people outside of our church!  I saw a lot of conversations taking place, it was great to see!

There were two encouragers that I think served as great take home messages.  The first point was moving SSLC from a “one day Sunday” church to an “everyday Sunday” church.  Connecting Groups is a great avenue in moving the church towards that culture.  It starts with giving you another day of the week to worship God, to go deeper into His word that was covered in the sermon, to talk to someone from church.  You may also learn some lessons in group that you can carry out through the remainder of the week.  Hopefully over time you find yourself in an active relationship with God every minute of everyday. That is the purpose of Connecting Groups, to help you be connected to Jesus Christ and each other through worship, learning and service and keeping that connection going 7 days a week.

The other point, brought up by Mike Zimmer, was making sure to connect with people outside of SSLC.  Connecting with our fellow members is great.  But connecting with outsiders is what God commissions us to do.  Planting seeds will help build up God’s kingdom.  It will also hopefully help us build up our congregation.  We can connect with non-believers through our service projects and inviting people to group. Perhaps people are not ready to attend a large formal gathering on Sunday, smaller groups may help people feel more comfortable to learn more about God.  Challenge yourself to ask someone to group.  If you don’t know of anyone pray that God places a person in your life to invite.

If you are wanting to learn more about Connecting Groups over the next 6 weeks you can attend a series called “Connecting Alive.”  This will give you an opportunity to learn about the importance of connecting, and how the groups are conducted.  Come join us this Sunday for the first session after the early service!  Signs will be posted in the church that will direct you to our meeting place.  Hope to see you there!