I get such a spiritual boost as men from all walks of life break open the Bread of Life.  –Steve

Step One:

1. Identify a location comfortable enough for 10 to 40 men or women to meet each week for a Gospel reflection. A consistent location should be established such as a home, church, or office.

 

2. Determine a day of the week and a time for the group to meet for one hour. This should remain consistent each week. The best times to host these groups are commonly 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning or evening.

 

3. Click here to obtain a printable group sign-up sheet. Please ask all of your participants to provide complete information requested on the form. As new participants join, please continue to gather the same information for each person. We then ask that the information gathered be provided to us by using the ‘Group Meeting Information’ form which can be found by clicking here. As an alternative to entering the information yourself, you can scan the completed form and email it to us by clicking here.
   We use this information to send a weekly reminder to each participant containing the Gospel reading for the week and an invitation to attend. We also send a monthly email to the group leader with links to all of the worksheets for the month. In this way the leader has all of the month’s worksheet available to provide to your participants at the meeting. Weekly emails are sent early each Monday morning and the monthly email to leaders is sent on the third Tuesday of each month for the following month.

 

4. Prepare: Before each meeting, prepare Gospel Reflection Insights Worksheets for those attending. A template is available for your use or you can choose to sign up through Stewardship: A Mission of Faith to receive the worksheets by email each month.

 

5. Prayer books, prayer cards and Gospel Reflection notebooks are available upon request from Stewardship: A Mission of Faith.

 

6. Pens, prayer books, prayer cards and the weekly Gospel reading should all be provided to those attending.

 

7. Refreshments are recommended but not required. A drink of some kind is always good to provide along with a snack if you choose. Members may want to volunteer to take turns providing refreshments.

 

8. A facilitator should always have a backup person designated to lead in the event he or she is unable to make a gathering. It is recommended that you select a person ahead of time.

 

9. When starting a group, no more than 30 to 40 people should be invited to get the group started. Once the group is established, it is a great time to encourage participants to extend an invitation to their friends and family who are not already involved with the group. If the group gets too large, you should consider offering an additional meeting or begin a new group.

Step Two:

1. Timing is everything! It is critically important that the meetings start on time and end on time. Review the meeting time before beginning the meeting. If this does not happen, you will lose the people. If appropriate, invite attendees to remain after the meeting to socialize.

 

2. Name tags that clip on are a great idea for the people who regularly attend. You should also have available write-on name tags for those who are new or are present occasionally.

 

3. Using the template provided, such as the prayer cards, reading of the Gospel, Petitions, and closing prayers are critical to maintain the continuity of the flow across all groups.

 

4. If the facilitator notices one or two people monopolizing the reflection period, he or she must try to control the meeting and redirect it by encouraging others, so that each person has an opportunity to share (if they choose).

 

5. Encourage people to bring their Bibles or Magnificat to make notes or highlight important information.

 

6. The Prayer book, My Daily Prayers, should be encouraged to be taken home, to their church, and given out anywhere your attendees choose. They can be ordered here on our site.