Several years ago, our congregation launched a ‘small group ministry’ with the purpose of nurturing people in their discipleship. We are now into the third phase of that initiative. In the first phase, we trained leaders, issued invitations to the congregation to participate and then guided the groups as they developed. We followed what, I suspect, is a familiar pattern in many congregations. Some people were suspicious of, and resistant to, a new way of being the church; some people welcomed the opportunity with glad and grateful hearts. Some of the groups are still meeting; some served their purposes and dispersed. All the groups resisted multiplying. We trained more leaders and offered some more groups. However, the nurturing of new groups and leaders was time-consuming and got lost in the midst of other initiatives that were going on.

We moved into phase two whereby groups and committees in the congregation were encouraged to use the ‘small group model’ in their regular meetings: Love, Learn, Do, Decide. In addition to conducting business (Do and Decide), they could be intentional about checking in with each other and praying for each others’ needs (Love). They could add a component of study in the area of their particular area of concern (Learn). "Small groups" began to be experienced not so much as a separate initiative as the way we did "Church".

Any new group or committee that formed was encouraged to adopt the same model. That precipitated phase three of our venture into small group ministry: small groups for worship planning and leadership.

A newsletter from Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., highlighted the work of Jeremy Begbie and a project called “Theology through the Arts”. Begbie had brought together small groups of artists and theologians to interact and create works of art for a festival of music, drama, visual art and discussion at the University of Cambridge in September 2000. He called the small groups ‘pods’.

We applied for a Worship Renewal Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Michigan. However, we also began to gather together artists and Bible study leaders from the congregation, inviting them to join us on a new adventure we were calling GraceWorks. It was February. We were aiming to have five pods create works of art for our Advent worship services. Each pod was to use the small group model as the format for their meetings.

Beyond that, we didn’t exactly know how we would get there. Courageously, they agreed to venture into the unknown with us.

Each pod included one Bible study leader and two to four artists interested in various art forms – fabric, photography, liturgical dance, drama, poetry, stained glass.

Each pod was given a scripture lesson out of which would develop their work of art. The overall theme for the season was “The Characters of Advent”, i.e. the Returning Christ, John the Baptizer, the Angel Gabriel, Mary and the Christ Child. The participants chose to work in the pod that interested them. Each pod would meet according to a time schedule that suited its members.

The first meeting of the whole group was electric as the artists began tossing back and forth ideas of what they could create. Afterwards, we communicated with the ‘lead theologian’ in each group that, although we were thrilled with the energy and enthusiasm exhibited by the artists, they needed to slow them down. The art was to emerge out of their study of the scripture passages that had been assigned. They needed to take the time to struggle with what the passage was saying to them first.

This became a recurring theme throughout the process. The aim of the project is to create a work of art. The process of dreaming and creating the art is very compelling and can easily become the main focus. However, the art is to be in the service of worshipping God and needs to be firmly rooted in the Word of God.

While the Advent pods were working, we received news that we had been awarded a Worship Renewal Grant. That gave the pods more money with which to work It also meant that, in May, we began seven more pods to work on the theme of Covenants for Lent of the following year. (We wouldn’t recommend that pace to anyone thinking of implementing a similar process in their congregation!)

The works of art that were created were astonish- ingly beautiful and inspiring. We discovered that there were many artists just waiting for the opportunity to offer their gifts in worship. There were also a number of unexpected developments that emerged as the project developed:

• People who normally would not attend a Bible study were delving into the scriptures more deeply than they ever had before … and getting excited by it.

• The relationships that developed among the pod members were as important as the works of art themselves. The process inevitably put some strain on those relationships, as artists of different temperaments and styles had to work together. The groups who had done a lot of the ‘Love’ aspect at the beginning found that they were able to draw upon the trust that had developed to get through the rough spots. If we create beautiful art but fail to love one another, we have simply failed.

•Almost all of the pod groups ended up developing much of the liturgy as well as their particular work(s) of art. There was obviously latent energy in the congregation for lay-developed worship that was just waiting to be tapped.

• We worked diligently at preparing the congregation to receive the works of art in the worship services. There was some discomfort at the beginning; however, many people delighted in the richness that the various forms of art brought to the worship of God.

Art in its many forms touches the soul in powerful ways. It helps people bring their bodies and emotions into worship as well as their minds. With more and more people being visual learners, the integration of the arts into worship becomes more and more important. We are continuing to use the pod group process for some of our worship services and are looking at ways to expand it. Each time we learn more about worship, the scriptures, deepening community and the stewardship of our gifts. The adventure continues.