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Episcopal Church Bringing People Together |
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Introducing ''Foyer''
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The Adult Education Committee would like to introduce an opportunity for our adult members to participate in a different kind of fellowship. St. Christopher's offers many opportunities to become involved in the fabric of our church community, but the threads of that fabric are the many talented and interesting individuals that we mostly encounter at our worship services, committee meetings, Bible studies, or fundraisers.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had an opportunity to get together without an order of worship, an agenda, an instructor, or monetary goal attached? We think that ''Foyer'' is a concept that will allow us to discover and appreciate each other in a more informal setting. By getting to know each other as more than just fellow worshipers, we think it will also enrich the other activities in our church community.
At traditional pot luck suppers most of us tend to sit at a table with a small group of people we already know; only occasionally making a connection with one of the other 30-40 people in attendance. In other words, we stay within our comfort zones.
In contrast, Foyer subdivides a large group of participants into smaller groups. However, a key difference is that those smaller groups are made up of people who do not know each other well. Foyer then allows us to take those small groups, move them out of the parish hall and into people's homes, and lets us focus on building new connections based upon more than a shared membership at St. Christopher's.
On June 7 immediately after the 4 pm Eucharist the Adult Education and New Comers Committees will co-sponsor a trail run of the Foyer program. All couples and individuals in the parish are invited to come for the ham and baked bean dinner. Participants are assigned to small groups (of people you may not know well), the guidelines explained, and any questions about how it works are answered.
This June 7 dinner will give everyone an opportunity to experience a ''trial run'' before deciding if they want to participate in a future program. If this dinner is a success and there is sufficient interest in continuing, the intention is to launch the program for all willing participants in September. Unless a different format evolves on June 7 (and we are open to that), group dinners would be held once a month (remember your group may decide to gather less often) on a rotating basis in the homes of group members until each willing member has hosted a dinner. Once everyone has hosted a dinner the group may decide to end it there or go on to another round of dinners or other activities.
We hope that many of you sign up. For those who have done this before, it always turns out to be fun and richly rewarding through the formation of new friendships and better understanding about why we have all ended up in this wonderful community of St. Christopher's. There is a sign-up sheet and Q & A sheet in the ''Foyer'' by the front door. Please join us in this new adult Fellowship!
View the Q & A sheet here.
