The First Meeting

Advertise:

Make up some flyers to HANG on posts, sit on tables, or any place the owner of the resort or club will allow. It is important to speak with him about how and where you advertise. He must be willing to support your efforts. Never, ever, go door to door or placing flyers under the wipers on cars. This leads to hurt feelings, and resentment. Remember, your goal is to support and
engage the community.

Ask about placing an announcement in the newsletter. The task of letting the members know about the meeting will be easier if there is a newsletter going out to all the members, even if it is an online letter. If there isn't one, volunteer to do one for the part. Make you curch announcements small and in keeping with the other announcements so as to be fair to every group that participates.


IN THE DOOR

In a world where there are so many thoughts, beliefs, and understandings of Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, you can not assume anything. Meeting for the first time, especially in the nudist setting, will bring all kinds of beliefs, thoughts, and well, crackpots, out of the woods.

Crackpots here is a term of endearment used to describe a person with a sorted and unbalanced view of Christianity, such as all roads lead to heaven, the path to enlightenment will give you the peace you need to find heaven, everyone is saved, and the ever popular god would never send anyone to hell if he is a kind and gentle god.

Learning to settle these points will make for a wonderful handful of sleepless nights and a goodly sized ulcer. what you have to do is focus on the task.

Once the owner allows you to set up a meeting, pick a traditional time to meet. Sundays, early enough to allow for other activities afterward, is a great time. Most people recognize Sunday as a day of remembering their god, whether it is God or some other entity. Going early, such as 9:30 or so, allows the people to enjoy the meeting and not necessarily feel like they are missing anything.

Setting the time is important. Going too late, as we have said, means some will wander off to other activities. Going too early will mean people will oversleep. Finding that specific balance between too early and too late can be tricky, but there is usually a point where the whole process fits. Coordinating with the owner of the park will cut down on activity conflicts, but has the added advantage of engaging the owner in the church process.

Brass Tacks

No one wants to sit through one of the old fashioned tent meetings of the 1600's where a robed guy stood up front and spoke in a language no one understood. We certainly don't want that today. The meetings need to be styled so that everyone is comfortable about what is going on and the atmosphere is light, fun, and enticing, while at the same time, offering the messages God has for this group.

Think this is easy? So did I and I was wrong, too.

The trick is to spend the first meetings learning about the people coming to the group. find out what background they have, where they got their beliefs and especially here they stand. In some cases, you can just ask. Most of the time, you will have to work a little to bring out these details. On the first meeting, try a game or two. This will give you an idea of where people are in their walk and will help break the ice among te members.

Remember, some, if not most, will already be familiar to you. This is just to find out where they are in their walk.

The internet is filled with ice breaker games. Pick one or two and tailor the games to finding out information about the members.


Now, have fun.

Till next time...