Leading Your City Group in a Pandemic
COVID-19 and Community
Coronavirus cases continue to rapidly increase every day in Iowa. Our fear has been realized and the predicted flu season spike is happening before our very eyes. For me personally the known positive cases in my life were always incredibly real, but few and far between only a few months ago. Living in Council Bluffs it seemed as if the individuals who were testing positive were strangers in articles or perhaps a friend of a friend of a friend. This has quickly changed as it is now our spouses, friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers who are testing positive and being hospitalized with serious complications due to the virus.
For 10 months it has felt like a perpetual final mile of a marathon for frontline workers. For 10 months business owners have grieved their empty dining rooms and coffee shops- some grieving the closing of their doors permanently. For 10 months those in the service industry have clung to paychecks not knowing if there would be another. For 10 months pastors and church staffs have been beaten up by hard decision after hard decision. The list of individuals who are physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted by the virus and its social, economical, and health repercussions feels never-ending. The need to socially distance, stay at home, and avoid crowded places has only magnified the exhaustion. Our refuge of community has also been taken away.
Though the list is exhaustive there is a specific group of people that have been on my mind for a majority of this pandemic, in my prayers frequently, and who I hope to specifically encourage and equip with this blog post. As the City Group Director at Citylight West Council Bluffs you can guess who this group of individuals might be: City Group leaders. They are the facilitators of discipleship and small group community in our church.
As humans we were created with a deep need and desire to be in community- to be in community with God and with other human beings. We see this in the book of Genesis as God exclaims “ it is not good” when he saw that man was alone (Genesis 2:18). He fixed this by creating a woman from the man’s rib, therefore bringing humans into community with not only Himself but with one another.
We don’t only see the human need for community within the first few chapters of Genesis but throughout the rest of Old and New Testament. God sent his son, Jesus of Nazareth, to save us from our sin, yes, but his work on the cross did not end at personal sanctification and salvation. He came to save us into a family, the Church. Faith is very much personal but equally, if not more so, communal. Paul and other New Testament writers expounded on this idea continually throughout the epistles. Half of the letters that were written to help the early church understand their relationship with God and their relationship with others. Community is essential to the Christian faith and we were never meant to follow Jesus alone.
This need for community has not changed during a global pandemic. In fact we feel the need for community now more than ever.
You can see why the role of City Group leader is so important in the life of our church and you can see why it has been so challenging. How do you lead others to be in community when we are in the midst of a global pandemic? Are we to abandon community altogether for the time being? I don’t think so. The world around us and the members within our church body need one another more than ever. It is our unity, love for one another, and togetherness that will serve as one of the biggest witnesses to the good news of Jesus to the world in crisis around us (John 13:35, Matthew 18:19-20, Acts 4).
This hopefully serves as a challenge and resource to embrace community during this pandemic, even if it is incredibly hard and even if it has to look different than what we are used to.
To our City Group leaders, we see you, we love you, and we are here for you. I hope this blog servers as a validation of how hard its been and that you are not alone in this. I also hope it serves as a challenge to not abandon community but embrace it even if it has to look different than what we are used to. I pray it is a useful resource for you as you have conversations with your City Group about what community looks like at this time.
Create a Game Plan
Meet with your City Group, online or in-person, to discuss a game plan for your City Group for the coming months as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Start by praying, praying, and praying some more. Take stock of how the hearts of your City Group members are. Take into consideration their concerns, frustrations, and desires and make a decision together on how you, as a City Group, will function in community during the coming months.
Do the members of your City Group feel comfortable meeting in a small group in a home? Would they rather break up into smaller groups? Maybe hosting in a home isn’t an option and you need to find another location... There are lots of things to consider when determining how to lead your City Group during a pandemic. Consider the ideas below when discussing these questions with your City Group.
Ideas on How to Lead Your City Group
Choose to have your City Group go online and meet over zoom or google hangout for the next few months. Designate one or two leaders to be a “host” for each online meeting. Hosts will be responsible for sending out the zoom or google hangout meeting link to City Group members and asking the initial ice-breaker question at the beginning of group. Then designate discussion leaders. Rotate every week who will lead the main discussion- you can create a google doc to keep track of the schedule!
Forgo dinner and opt for a later meeting time. Require masks and proper social distancing as you meet in a home. Properly clean surfaces with disinfectant before and after your City Group.
Choose to temporarily split up your City Group into two smaller City Groups. You can divide the small group into a men’s and women’s group for example. Meet on the same night but separately in different homes for a couple months. Opt to properly social distance and wear masks.
Choose to split up your City Group into even smaller groups of 2-3 people, or “Huddles” for the next few months. Each Huddle can determine where they feel comfortable meeting. (Find out how to lead a Huddle here)
Find private rooms or meeting spaces in the Omaha metro area that your City Group or Huddles can meet in to avoid meeting in a home. (See various options below)
Choose to participate in an online Bible study with one another. Check out the Bible App or the Bible Project Bible studies for free Bible study resources.
Draw names in a hat and do a “Secret Santa” or penpals for the month of December. Leave your gifts on their porch or mailbox. Use it as an opportunity to bless someone in your City Group with gifts, homemade goodies, or letters of encouragement.
Start a group chat with the members of your City Group or Huddle if you don’t already have one. Share prayer requests and check-in weekly with one another over text message.
Choose to communicate through the Marco Polo app. Share prayer requests and check in on one another.
Serve together by adopting a family for Christmas. For more information on how to adopt a family for Christmas please contact Jordan Behr.
Ideas for Meeting Locations
Continue to meet in a home but properly socially distance, wear masks, and disinfect all surfaces before and after your City Group. If your City Group has more than ten people opt to split your group into two smaller City Groups or into Huddles that meet on the same night but in different locations.
Book a private rooms at SoZo Coffeehouse ($2 an hour): Sozo Coffeehouse Private Rooms
Pick up your carryout order with your Huddle and rent an outdoor heated igloo at the Capital district in downtown omaha ($100 for 2.5 hours): Capitol District Igloos
Rent a meeting room at the Council Bluffs Public Library for your City Group ($15 an hour): Council Bluffs Public Library Meeting Rooms
Book a meeting room at UNO’s campus (Price not listed): UNO Meeting Rooms
On a warmer winter day opt for a front porch coffee date with the members of your Huddle.
On a warmer day go for a walk on the Wabash or around Lake Manawa with your City Group or huddle.