"Everybody decided to do something"

The friends in Newark, NJ (A) are always up to something. This time it’s a cluster reflection meeting that managed to empower everyone there! How did they do it? Through encouragement, consultation, and leadership, that’s how! And as a result, more of the friends have confidence that they can find their own part to play in the Five Year Plan and that their contribution is valuable.

The cluster reflection gathering was carefully organized so that we first reflected as a whole cluster, and then divided ourselves according to county and consulted about the next steps for each county. We were given a list of various possible strategies for teaching and asked to decide what we could reasonably do. I think this process set up by the institutions was excellent in that it gave us some focal points (we were also able to add additional strategies to the original list). There were strategies suited to everyone’s capacity and availability so no one was forced to do something that they were not comfortable with—and so everybody decided to do something.

It was also good to have the guidance of the institutions because we didn’t wind up wasting time trying to figure out what to do. We were also fired up with prayer before and after the meeting. I believe everyone left the cluster reflection gathering with a firm desire and commitment to do something, however large or small, to spread the Faith. Our group developed a list of 16 seekers and new believers in our county that we will be praying for and teaching. It was a great day!