Last weekend was our Alpha weekend. We had 7 in attendance. Our two worship leaders, then one woman who’s been pursuijng faith in the midst of terrible personal struggle, and the couple who has been with us from the marriage workshop on through Alpha and are now coming to the Sunday part of church.
The focus of the weekend is the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The talks focus on who is the HS, what does she do, and how we can be filled with the HS. There’s opportunity for ministry time nearing the end of the retreat.
Good stuff:
– We got to pray for everybody who was there that the HS would fill them. Even the one guy who’s still saying that he’s not ready to follow Jesus. That’s pretty cool!
– There’s a strong sense of relationship among the people there.
– We got to hear from the marriage workshop couple more about why they came. They said that if we had pushed either marriage workshop or Alpha as means by which we’re trying to grow our church on Sundays, they’d have bolted. They stuck around because they both have been helped, and because of the relationships they’re making along the way.
Bad stuff:
– Between the lodge we rented for the retreat, food an babysitting, we spent just at $1000 for the weekend. That amount is, shall we say, “non-trivial” for us. I’m not sure what to do differnetly next time: Not rent a place for people to stay? Skimp on food? Not offer childcare? None of those options is particularly intriguing.
– Because I didn’t want finances to be an issue for people, we got a very small amount of donations to cover this expense. What to do? I dunno. Requiring an attendance fee doesn’t feel right. Making people pay for childcare wouldn’t have worked. Pay-up-front-or-you-don’t-go doesn’t either.
I guess we just need to pray that God infuses us with money. And soon.
pat loughery 
Leave a comment