End the year well

The tree is up, the shopping has begun and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care. For many of our Australian readers, the start of Christmas is the signal that the year is wrapping up. With Christmas and New Years just around the corner, it is time to start celebrating the end and the year that was.

But whether you are finishing for the year, or merely approaching a Christmas break for the time being, it is worth thinking about how we end our home group gatherings and how we can end them well.

Here are some suggestions for how you might end the year well with your home group:

Reflect on what you have studied

Take some time to think over, or read over, some of what you have looked at during the year. Perhaps there were some challenging studies or light bulb moments for members of your group? You could spend a few minutes briefly sharing things you have learned over the year, or you could dedicate the whole night to what God has been teaching your group. It might even be helpful to ask your group to reflect at home and prepare an answer to share before the last home group.

Come back to those discussions

Were there particular topics brought up during the year that just didn’t get enough discussion time? Were there areas or ideas your group wanted to explore in more detail? Another way to end well is to spend time working through the topics that unfortunately didn’t receive enough air time.

Share answers to prayer

If your group is in the habit of sharing prayer points every week, it can be very easy to forget to share how God has been answering those weekly prayers. It is always encouraging to hear how God has been working in the lives of our friends, families and our fellow group members.  This also reminds us that we have a faithful God who not only hears our prayers, but he answers them in a myriad of ways.

Give thanks and praise

God blesses us more than we deserve, so why not spend some time remembering this as a group? Devote some time to the reading of a Psalm or two and sharing the different ways that God has blessed you lately. This can greatly encourage others in your group and help your group to end well.

Have some fun

It might be a small dinner, a night out bowling, a picnic in the park… whatever works for your group and would be considered fun! Setting aside some time to simply enjoy each others company is a great thing to do at the end of the year. It’s important to continue to build and strengthen relationships in your group. Giving people an opportunity to relax and spend time together at the end of the year means not only will the year end with fond memories of home group, they will be looking forward to meeting again next year.

How are you planning to finish well? Let us know in the comments.