Finishing the Semester Well

Celebrate

Celebrate what Jesus has done. Talk about Jesus and the ways he has shown up in your micro church. Retell stories of what you’ve learned and how God has come through for you this semester. Celebrate his incarnation and the gift it is to be included into his family. Worship God together.

Celebrate what your micro church has done. Relive how Jesus used you in his mission. Acknowledge how God matured your people. Celebrate the gifs everyone brings and love each other. Enjoy each other’s presence and have fun.

A small part of celebration might be to listen to suggested changes or adjustments. If there is open sharing, I suggest asking people to celebrate 2 things and share 1 adjustment they want to see God do. Focusing the evaluation helps people not get too negative and give constructive feedback.

Give Vision

As you wrap up the semester with celebration you want to transition into the vision for the next semester. You might not know exactly what the plans are...that’s ok. What you want to offer your micro church is the chance to look forward to what Jesus will do in and through you next semester. It can be interactive like making a “dream list” of all the things your micro church hopes God will do next semester. Or more directive with you taking a few minutes to share how you are sensing a season of serious evangelism. In the end you want to give them something to look forward to.

Next steps

Once everyone is looking forward give them a few concrete expectations. When will you begin again, meet to plan next? Are there any important dates to know? Next steps can also be spiritual by offering some prayer ideas or scripture readings during the break. This part does not need to be elaborate merely a few “stepping stones” into the future semester of your micro church.

Ideas

What does the group need? High emphasis on what Jesus has done. High relational interaction. Strategy. (worship, community, mission)
Most ideas will revolve around these three essentials for being the church and emphasize one above the others contingent on the group’s needs. So determine what your micro church needs as the semester closes then develop your idea from there. Below are a few scenarios.

Dinner Breakfast Celebration: (worship) breakfast for dinner combination with pairing up to share what Jesus did in your life this semester. Then opened it up to hear those testimonies from a few people (depending on the size of your group you might be able to listen to everyone). After testimonies, gather in threes to come up with one dream or adjustment we hope God does in our group next semester. Then each group shares their idea to the rest of the community. Some final words of encouragement are shared with a call to a commitment for next semester. (This commitment usually reflects idea shared previously that resonated with the whole group) prayer in response to the testimonies and dreams is an excellent way to finish.

Smores & Affirmation: (community) get a fire, smores and go on-by-one having the entire group affirm each person. The leader then can conclude with an encouragement to be a family, to love each other...that’s how outsiders will know we love Jesus.

Planning: (mission) get a white board and chart what Jesus has done and what challenges remain. Have a time of prayer to listen to what challenges the group feels God wants them to act on in the next semester. Make a tentative plan or brainstorm how to engage those challenges as you enter the next spring.