Come & See

Introduction & Welcome (1 min.)

Introduce yourself and welcome the group. Briefly explain the goal of this meeting: get to know each other.

I. Opening Prayer (5 min.)

Grace: For openness in responding to this invitation from God to come together and form a community based on faith and growth.

Use the grace or a suggested scripture above to create your own prayer, or use the one below.

Lord, we thank You for gathering us here. We believe You are here with us, for You promised to be present wherever two or three are gathered in Your name. We ask You to open our hearts to Your love and blessings. Help us to grow in friendship and companionship with one another and with You. Amen.

II. Check-In (5 min.)

We will do a short “check-in” every meeting. Briefly share how are you feeling right now. The purpose of this part of the meeting is to help the group know how we are feeling at the meeting. We will have more opportunities later in each meeting to expand upon what we have already shared.

III. Focus Exercise (40 min.)

Materials Needed: CLC box (CLC Journal booklets, tape, pens, etc.), M&Ms or other candy, CLC logo sheets and a small poster

Introduction

We have two activities for this meeting; both will help us share some things about ourselves with each other.

Exercise #1: M&M game (15 min.)

Have each member grab some M&Ms. It’s up to each person to decide how many to get. Wait until everyone in the group is done. For each piece of candy share something about yourself. (Coordinators should demonstrate first: mention your name, major, year, where you are from, hobbies or interests, etc.)

Exercise #2: CLC logo sheet (“people” only) (15 min.)

Pass out copies of the 8.5 x 11 CLC logo sheet.

Have every member cut out his/her own (coordinators too!) and have each person write his/her first name on the face. Invite people to share on these topics as they tape their figure to the poster (see figure below):

When each member is done, explain that the poster will be kept for the year as a visual representation of the group. Mention to the group that we’ll do more with it and you will explain more about its meaning next week.

NOTE TO LEADER: Keep the completed poster and bring it back for next week’s exercise (when the logo will be completed and explained).

Listening Deeper

Explanation: This portion of the meeting serves to help us listen to what has been going on within each of us as individuals and as a group. It is not meant to be an evaluation of the meeting, but rather, a way to help us be more attentive to how we have been responding to what has been shared and how God is moving in the group. The questions you might ask in this portion of the meeting will deepen over time and will depend on what has been taking place in each meeting. The following are just suggestions.

• What has struck you as you have been listening to others share? Do you notice any patterns or commonalities?
• How have you been feeling throughout the meeting? Comfortable? Anxious? Curious?
• Is there anything you would like to share after having listened to other people share?

IV. Moving Forward (10 min.)

• Wrap-Up: Thank members for their openness and participation.
• Action: Pray, “What do you hope to get out of CLC/college?”
  • The heart of CLC spirituality is growth. Every week, we’d like to suggest one thought or action for you to think and pray about or act on. For week one, we invite you to pray over the question Jesus asked his disciples, “What are you looking for?” In this context, for example, what do you hope to get out of CLC/college? What are your goals for the year?
  • We will be discussing this topic more next week.
• Housekeeping: Discuss the following (add more as needed)
  1. Meeting day, time, location, length: Stress the meeting day and time stay the same for the rest of the school year.
  2. Meeting format: Discuss in general the CLC format of opening prayer, check-in, focus exercise, and closing prayer. Do not go into too many details. Give an overview.
  3. Meeting content: Ask if there are particular themes or topics members would like to discuss over the quarter. (You may preview the meeting topics of this quarter here. See the table of contents)
  4. CONFIDENTIALITY: What we share in the group stays in the group.
  5. Group contact person: Ask for a volunteer to help coordinate events, reminders, etc.
• Announcements: Topic for next meeting and upcoming CLC events

V. Closing Prayer (5 min.)

The tradition of CLC calls us to form communities of faith, trust, and growth. “Our Community is made up of Christians: men and women, youth and adults, of all social conditions.” (General Principles 4). As we close our time together tonight, we remember that we are a part of a larger community of faith here at our school, in the CLC community, in our faith, and in the world.

We will close by praying in thanksgiving for each one of us here. Please join me in saying the name of the person to your left as we pray together.