Elemental to our Christian faith is connection with God. Also elemental to our Christian faith is our connection with each other (Mathew 22: 39). We read in the New Testament of the importance the community of faith was to the early church (Acts 2: 43-47). So we committed to growing that sense of community in the MLMA village congregations. The initial and primary way we went about achieving that was by encouraging conversation within the context of worship about faith/life issues. Recognising the need to provide a "sermon" we put a sermon on a DVD for people to hear. But to ensure there was a connection between individuals we included discussion starters that went with the sermon.

These discussion starters had a profound effect on the dynamic of worship, the connection between the members of the congregation, and a growing awareness by individuals of the richness of their own, and each other's, faith stories. Those developing Project Reconnect, and participants of Project Reconnect, were amazed by the richness that flowed from these discussions. So much so that we added another goal of Project Reconnect - sharing faith stories.

Comments came rolling in like, "I've learned more in the last 2 years about other members of my congregation than I learned in the last 20 years." A signal of a growing sense of community was that each congregation began to organise a cuppa after worship to continue their fellowship. Further, after the service, instead of talking about the weather, wool prices, and such like, conversations became a continuation of the discussion started in worship. Real conversations flourished among dear friends.

Other comments have been made about how members feel more confident in the value of their own story. They feel more confident to share their experiences in and outside of the church. The observation has since been made that the church has for a long time admonished her members to share their faith beyond the church. Yet members have never been given opportunity to first articulate their faith within the safety of the church. Now the latter is happening and the former is beginning to happen naturally.

In the sense of people reconnecting with each other we discovered the true strength of village congregations - they are small groups. For decades we have modelled village congregations on their larger neighbouring congregations, or on the larger congregations they were in the past. This denied of them who they are now and so the catch cry was created, "Small church? Just the right size!" It also helped the small congregations realise how powerful they really are. In the scriptures, it is often small groups that are a part of the most dynamic periods of the history of the Judeo-Christian faith: Moses after the advice of his Uncle (Exodus 18: 13-23), the Synagogues after the Exile[1], and in the establishment of the New Testament Church (Mark 3: 14,15, Acts 5: 42).

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October 10, 2007 - December 2009