There's LIFE in Canada!

Bill (left) & Larry (right) at MCC in Cairo

My dear friend Larry Boss pastors a growing church, Kamloops Alliance Church (KAC) in British Columbia, Canada. Larry and I served together at Maadi Community Church and shared the wonderful experience of seeing the small groups ministry transform the church.

I’ve just received a really exciting and encouraging update from Doug Hooge who is Director of Cell Ministries at KAC which, with his permission, I want to share with you – first as an encouragement and secondly because it highlights the success that comes from leadership buy-in, patience and the importance of having a dedicated ‘small groups champion’ on the leadership team of your church.

Here’s what Doug has to say:

“KAC has always been a very caring church and as a result there has always been some form of small group setting that people could gather in during the week. They have been called Care Groups for a long time and for the most part these were inward-focused groups. However, in fairness to members of those groups, they have had a concern for the lost, but lacking a way to reach out in a cohesive and consistent way.

Many people have written and I must attest to its validity here again. Transitioning a local church from a care group mentality to a small groups LIFE-style has to happen from the ‘top’ down. If the senior pastor and elder’s board haven’t agreed that this is the direction the church is to go, the change simply won’t happen. As it happens, the lead pastor here at KAC has worked with the cells/small groups model for most of his ministry life – so we have had a head start with our transtition process – it’s easier, but not easy! We are steering a large ship and it turns rather slowly although I think we are making fairly good headway.“

Read more here…