Tender Loving Christians is
an in-home, lay-led bible study program by which Christians form groups of 8-16
people for the purpose of studying Christ’s word. TLC is not a formal study curriculum, such as BSF or
Lifelight. Everything about TLC is
lay-led, down to curriculum, frequency and time of meetings, membership and
schedule. All of what is presented here
are suggestions on what has worked before, and what has not.
TLC groups’ goals include:
The first goal of TLC is to nurture faith by
regular study of God's word. This can
be accomplished in a number of ways, but the topic of study should be of
interest to the group as a whole. The
topic may range from specific books or people of the Bible to
writings by Christian authors to study guides on life issues[w1].
·
Deepening
Christian Love for Each Other
Fellowship is the means to deepen Christian love for each other. It allows the group to interact, share life experiences in an informal setting, and enjoy the presence of Christ through other Christians. The process of applying the Bible Study to our everyday life is a form of fellowship, as well as designated times before or after to allow each other to get to know each other better.
The Sharing and Prayer time allows for each person
or family unit to catch the group up on what has happened since the last
meeting. Special attention is given to
those issues that the group should pray about.
The group generally uses a circle prayer; a method where all people are
welcome to pray for those concerns identified by the group or by the
church.
The
final goal is that TLC groups are to be used as a way to reach out to others,
both Christians and non-Christians.
Each TLC meeting will have an Empty Chair. This chair is to remind the members to pray
for God to help fill the chair with another person, member or not, who needs
Christian fellowship and education. The
chair is also to remind members that they are to be ever inviting those whom
they know to the TLC groups.
A typical TLC group meets
every other week in members’ homes. A
typical TLC meeting lasts 2 hours and consists of one hour of bible study,
half-an-hour of sharing and prayer time, and half-an-hour of fellowship
time. The host usually provides a snack
during fellowship.
The frequency of the
meetings are as identified by the group as a whole. I would recommend starting bi-weekly and identifying if it is
often enough. Monthly doesn’t seem to
allow enough time to bond as a group.
Identifying a regularly
scheduled time is important to allow people to make it a habit. The time and day of the week the group meets
is again, up to the group.
TLC groups have a leader, a
leader in training, an administrator, and members. The leader’s duties include ensuring that the meetings are run
orderly, that the bible study is completed, and that prayers concerns are
raised to the group. The leader is also
responsible for training and mentoring the Leader-in-Training.
The Leader-in-Training is
responsible for filling in for the leader in their absence, and for being a
leader for the daughter TLC group after birth.
The Administrator is
responsible for keeping the TLC group’s calendar, arranging and publishing
meeting places and times, and making sure absent members are given missed group
information.
All Members are responsible
for participating, for asking others to attend the TLC groups, and for praying
and caring for fellow members.
Starting a new program is
challenging. A critical mass of people
is needed with the same goals and ideas.
Toward that end, TLC has identified a process called Birthing that works well in creating new groups.
TLC groups work most
efficiently when there are 10-12 members.
Allowing a TLC group to get too large starts to cause logistical as well
as spiritual problems. Thus, when the
TLC group gets to a size of over 14, the group needs to consider birthing
another TLC group.
The Leader-in-Training is
the individual who is designated as the leader of the new TLC group. Then, approximately half of the members of
the TLC group follow the new group, and half remain.
The birthing process can be
a painful process. Birthing needs to
occur when the group is ready. This can
be between 6 months and 2 years. The
method of choosing the method of division can be by cast of lots, geographic
distribution, age or other demographics, or by any means the members are
comfortable with.
In many cases, old TLC
groups will have “reunion” events, where members of the former group will join
and enjoy fellowship. This is to be
encouraged.
Birthing allows the group a
sense of renewal. Long established
groups can become stagnant when new ideas and opinions are not added. Stagnant groups tend to not be as effective,
and can subtly turn into exclusionary cliques.
Birthing also forces us to
continually invite others. This makes
us become bolder in our faith, and allows us to always search for the person
God wants to fill the Empty Chair.
Members take a turn hosting
TLC Meetings at their house. That
follows the example that the early Christians set in Acts, and does not
unfairly burden one individual with hosting the meetings. It also allows us to get to know each other
better, and to share in the joy of each other’s lives.
There are instances where
that is not possible. In those
instances, the group should make special accommodations, such as holding the
event at a public place (like a park or a restaurant), or at the church (when
we get one).
When a TLC group forms, they
draft a Charter. This charter
identifies the commitment that all members are expected to follow. This charter is not the same for all TLC
groups, and needs to be revisited as conditions warrant. The basic commitment that you will need to
make is to faithfully attend the meetings, and to pray for your fellow members
during the week.
Given the size of Advent,
the goal would be to have 4 TLC groups formed and functional by summer. In order to make that happen, four leaders
must be identified and trained to ensure success of each TLC group. Given the rather compressed timeframe, we
are recruiting a seed group with the purpose of training the TLC leaders and
preparing them to lead their own TLC groups.
Bob Walters will lead such this seed group.
The seed group is formed
with 16 members, with the intention of birthing into 4 functioning TLC groups
after Easter. There will need to be 6 meetings of the seed group to train the
leaders, as well as to give everyone a flavor of what TLC is like. In order to accelerate the schedule to allow
for a mid-April birthing, the meetings would need to be weekly. The newly birthed TLC groups would then have
two months to meet before the usual summer disruptions begin.
Weekly meetings would be
held February 24th through March 24th with a one-week break for Easter. April 7th will be a social event
to celebrate birthing, with initial meetings of the daughter TLC groups
beginning on the week of April 14th.
During the meeting of the
initial group, we can perform the needs survey for the congregation to assist
the group leaders in identifying specialized TLC groups.
[w1]This is where you share some of the resources we have used in the past. That would include the study guides, as well as the Serendipity Bible.