Sometimes, as a church, a business, a family, or even as an individual, you have to change things up a little or try something new… a great way to do this is to approach ideas or actions with an “experiment” mindset… to try something new which may or may not be repeated but at least gives us a chance to learn…

We have done just that our past two weeks at Oasis Church! We took the time in our services to provide a “taste test” of small groups as part of our worship time together. I spoke for a few minutes (both live and on video) on part of the study on Philippians and then we split everybody up into discussion groups around the auditorium. We provided questions and gave about 15 minutes for verses to be read and discussed in community together.

It was interesting, and I (and others as expressed in emails and feedback) am glad we tried it… but the experiment is over!

Here are some reasons why…

• as stated earlier, this was just a “taste test”. It is our goal to launch some group opportunities outside of Sunday mornings starting in September…and we will be using feedback from this experiment to help shape these groups…
• Sunday morning, during the worship time, is NOT the best time or place for these groups long-term…it’s hard to sit and face each other in stadium seating! Plus, due to limited time, it is hard to build strong connections and actually take the time to grow deeper in relationship and with the study…
• Honestly, it is not something most first-time guests (and many of our faithful attenders) WANT to do on Sunday am…it is awkward and may actually backfire…and we don’t want to make something good turn into a hindrance…not only that, but we don’t want to make it weird on our church to invite their friends to the theater…I want our church to know that you can bring your friends ANY Sunday and you will know what to expect (and won’t be embarrassed by something we do) and that EVERY Sunday is a good Sunday for people to visit Oasis Church…

So what did we learn?

• It was reaffirmed that building connections is important…and we want to focus on this 2nd value of the church going into the fall
• We need to study the Bible together…and help each other understand and live it out…
• We have a bunch of different people coming to Oasis Church…but we can be united by the love of and for Jesus and by confessing that we are all messed up… NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED!

Looking forward to worshipping together and studying Philippians 3 this Sunday… see you @ Oasis!