Summer Discipleship

~ From Eli Suddarth - Director of Worship & Discipleship

It’s hard to believe, but the first 15-week Life Group term of 2011 is coming to an end in the coming few days. We’ve had an amazing winter/spring season and feel blessed by how God has chosen to grow our small group ministry this year. I want to thank every leader, host, and participant for making sermon-based home Bible study groups at River Valley Community Church such a blessing to be a part of, and I can’t wait until August when our summer/fall 15-week term kicks off.

In the mean time, you may be asking yourself what we plan to do for discipleship over the summer break. August is a long way off and we still want to get together to enjoy our unique community, get to know new-comers, and serve the city of Aurora, so here are a few options we’ve got cooked up (please contact me at the office if you would like to be involved, or if you have any other ideas how to continue to increase discipleship at River Valley):

1. Each of the Life Groups that currently exist have communicated that through the summer they plan to continue activities together. These won’t be weekly meetings, as with the Life Group terms, but will include informal get-togethers and some study time. We will continue to produce our weekly Life Group content based on that week’s sermon, but it will come in the form of “Tidbits” which are abbreviated versions of the study guides. All are welcome to these groups and can contact me (Eli) to get plugged in (630.777.1267).
2. This summer, following our June awakenings514 event (more info to come on that), we will be putting together River Valley’s first Alpha group. Alpha is a unique, more structured small group format in which participants share a meal, watch a video lesson, and answer study questions discussing the foundational aspects of God and the Christian Way. You can visit alphausa.org to find out more and to decide if you would like to be involved.
• Regarding Alpha, we would like to send anyone interested to a training session on Sunday, May 15th to learn how to host/lead Alpha groups. Leading is extremely fun and requires surprisingly little work ahead of time; it simply requires a desire to get to know new people, invite them into your home or to a secondary location such as our church office or cafe, and lead a discussion. The training involves no cost or commitment and would be a great way for you to discover ways God has gifted you to serve your community. Give me a call (630.777.1267) if you’re interested.

Of course, we have a number of other opportunities for you to be involved at River Valley this summer, and we’ll announce those every Sunday during our worship service, and send them out in this newsletter as they come up. You can also check the calendar on our website www.rivervalleycommunity.org to see what else is going on.

Have a blessed spring and summer; hope to see you this Sunday at 10:00!

Blessings.