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Table Tip: Start a Group

We're firm believers that church is not for spectators. The pastor is not the only who can preach. You don't have to be on staff to do ministry. The church is a body and we all have a role—spectating is not a spiritual gift.

Peter Haas, pastor of Substance Church in Minneapolis, tells a story about ministry happening all by itself. That's what the Table is here to encourage.

So get involved. One easy way to do it is by starting a group.

• Existing ministries: Start a group for an existing ministry. This is a good way to organize your efforts and create a consistent place to communicate and connect. Your church's bulletin may not have room for every announcement and update you have, but a group on the Table gives you all the space you need. Post your own updates, prayer needs and volunteer opportunities.
• Informal groups: Just because you're not a formal ministry doesn't mean you can't set up a group. Start a group for your book club or knitting group. Maybe it's a group of youth group guys who watch football together on Sundays or young adults who go out to lunch after church. Use your group to plan events, invite new people and share info.
• Non-existent groups: Maybe the group you need doesn't exist yet. You can use the Table to pull it together. Maybe you want to connect stay-at-home parents, bikers or musicians. Search the people directory for skills and interests and invite people to join you. Use the discussion board to get organized, post events, share stuff and serve one another.

Church isn't supposed to be passive. Get involved and start a group today.

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You Can't Do That on Facebook: Groups Directory

People often point to Facebook and wonder why the church would even need the Table. Facebook is ideal for outreach, but it falls short at building community. That's what the Table is all about. We encourage churches to use Facebook and the Table together. But the fact is there are things you can't do on Facebook that the Table is designed to do.

Like having a groups directory.

You can set up as many groups as you want on the Table. They can be official ministry groups like women's ministry, youth group or your small group, or they can be fun groups based on interests, like football fans, music heads or knitters. You can designate official groups and even make groups private.

You can create the same kinds of groups on Facebook. But good luck finding them. There's no connection between those groups and your church. If someone visits your church's Facebook Page, there's no automatic way to find all your groups. That makes connecting and plugging in kind of hard. There might be some manual work arounds, but that's staff time to set up, requires constant maintenance and discourages people from setting up their own groups.

But it's different on the Table. There's an entire directory of groups:

• You can browse through them all to find the group for you.
• You can search for a group that might appeal to your interests.
• You can launch your own group and invite others to join you.

You can do groups on Facebook, but you can't do interconnected groups. Which is really what happens in church, right? You've got your entire church, but then you have all kinds of groups within your church. The Table's groups directory was designed with that in mind: Simple groups that are easy to find and encourage connection.

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Why the Table?

If you want a one-minute answer to why Substance Church in Minneapolis uses the Table, this is it. Peter Haas, pastor of Substance and Table board member, explains:

"We were looking for something that would enhance our small groups. We were looking for something that would enhance the community of Substance, not merely the metrics. ... We thought, what can we do to enhance church in between church services? When we heard about the Table, I thought, wow, this is the technology we need to fill the gap."

Watch Substance: Why the Table (1:00)

Watch the full webinar, How They Did It: Substance Church Case Study, for more on how Substance has utilized the Table.

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Webinar: Small Groups Q&A with David Stark

For this week's Round Table webinar we brought in church consultant David Stark to talk about making the most of small groups on the Table. David has been a small group consultant for 17 years and helps start and grow small group ministries in churches all over the country. He's the author of Growing People Through Small Groups and LifeKeys: Discover Who You Are.

Watch as David talks about how to supercharge your small groups ministry with the Table:

Watch: Small Groups Q&A With David Stark (37:00)

Notes:

• With the communication revolution we're more connected that small groups used to be. That means small groups can go deeper.
• Leaders: Create a group on the Table for small group leaders. Add a video training channel, share curriculum in the discussion board with file sharing, use the Prayer Wall to pray for one another.
• The Table makes it easier for leaders to connect with organic groups, not to control them but to offer support.
• The Table helps get the program side out of the way so the body can be the body.
• The next generation is already sharing like this, so if you're not doing it you're going backward.
• Frees up pastors to do more.
• Where do I start? Start with the tools that are most exciting for you.

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The Table Loves Small Groups

Substance Church in Minneapolis has seen 116% small group attendance in the past quarter. That means more people attended their small groups than attended their church service.

That's crazy. It's also awesome. It means people are connecting, growing and inviting new people to experience how God is moving.

And one thing that's helped Substance develop their small group ministry? The Table. Peter Haas, Substance pastor and Table Project board member, explains:

"It's technology like the Table that has enabled our small groups to thrive. People are able to find their tribe within our church much, much faster."

Watch the video:

Watch Substance: Small Groups (1:08)

Watch the full webinar, How They Did It: Substance Church Case Study, for more on how Substance has utilized the Table.

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Plugging Into Groups

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New Videos for SuperAdmins

We recently created three new videos to help SuperAdmins get started.

How to Customize Your Table (1:44)

How to Invite People to Your Table (2:06)

How to Pre-populate Groups on Your Table (3:17)

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Avoiding the Empty Amusement Park

Empty amusement parks are creepy. You can't hear the squeals of joy or echoes of laughter. You don't see throngs of people or smell that buttery popcorn. You just hear crickets. You see an empty roller coaster, waiting for riders. There's no activity, no movement, no energy. Every little noise is magnified in the silence and you can't keep from looking over your shoulder wondering who's watching. A piece of trash tumbles through the street, blown by the wind. Yeah, creepy.

That's how the Table can feel when there's nobody in it. OK, maybe not that creepy, but it is pretty boring to log on to the Table for the first time and find it empty. Much like an amusement park, the Table wasn't designed to sit there empty. The Table was designed to be populated with people. That's when it's at its best. Until you get some people in the Table it's going to be an empty amusement park—more creepy than inviting.

That's why we encourage you to get your church leadership on board before you jump in and launch the Table. We also think you should come up with a launch plan to roll the Table out to your church. Use content as a carrot to draw people in.

Avoid the empty amusement park when you launch the Table by greasing the wheels and pre-populating it with people and content:

1. Set a precedent. Be sure that the first few members lay a foundation by completely filling out their profiles. A silent profile and a blank face aren't welcoming. But with faces and details it's suddenly not so lonely.

2. Set up groups. Give people something to join. You don't have to go nuts, but it'd be nice if you could have some of the obvious groups set up: The worship team, the prayer team, the staff, the leadership board, children's ministry, etc. Now you've given people something to do when they visit the Table. Here's a quick video to walk you through it.

3. Create initial content. Post some prayers, add some items to the Serve App, post a question to the discussion board, add a photo. Not only will a little content keep things from being empty, but you'll show people how it's done.

4. Invite people. In our launch plan we recommend setting up some key groups and having those leaders invite their group members. Get those people on the Table and using it before you roll out to your entire church. Suddenly the map view in the directory is peppered with people instead of a lonely one or two.

Now when you launch and people start coming in they won't find a virtual tumbleweed blowing down empty streets. Instead they'll see conversation, interaction, life.

(photo by Keo101)

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