Discipleship

New Summer Times

May 27 we will move to our summer worship schedule, please take a note for your reference. More information can be found here:

Summer Worship Hours:
May 27 - August 12: 8:30 am and 10:15 am

• On June 3rd BLAST! starts the "new year". That means that children entering K through 3rd grade in the fall will attend BLAST! Children finishing 3rd grade will stay in the worship center with their families (and older students). Early childhood classes (infants through 3's) will remain the same for the summer. (No BLAST! on May 27, Memorial Day weekend)

Need a Babysitter?

The church office, (630) 961-0579, often gets calls for babysitters to help small groups out. These sitters can help execute mission projects, have studies, or just to help the church members find young men and women that can help out in the home.

If you, or someone in your group, is looking for help, check the side bar of this blog for the babysitter forrm, or click here.

Diaconal Support

Small Group Leader: As we begin the year, it is helpful to remind you of the availability of the deacons to support members and attendees of Naperville Presbyterian. There may be men, women or families who could use the financial and spiritual support that comes from our diaconate.

If you have individuals or families that are requesting support from your group, the church, or have no idea where to turn, please contact our current deacon chairman, David McChristian. He can help arrange the care and resources that are needed to minister to those at NPC.

David McChristian
deacons@npchurch.org

Facebook Fan

This year Facebook started offering "Pages" to companies, organizations, artists and celebrities. Facebook users can "become a fan" of the individual or group to follow, support, hear news and information, see photos and videos and more. NPC has recently created its own Page for users of Facebook which is available to non-Facebook users as well. Our new Page is here: www.facebook.com/npchurch

The Page is in development (as well as a handful of other Pages for various ministries in the church). We are hoping that Facebook members and others will bookmark the page and follow NPC this way. Our desire is not to replace the church website or the Weekly, but to augment what we already have available to those who attend NPC and have a larger public presence.

So, become a fan, or simply check back regularly for more information about the church, our events, photos and videos from events and much more. We are looking forward to how social networks like Facebook can help connect us to one another in the church.

Small Group Database Updates

We are updating our small group lists here at the church and need your help to update your group's current roster. We understand that group membership changes over time as new members join and as others move away or pursue other ministry opportunities. We are currently updating the database in order to better pursue those who are not yet connected.

By taking a few moments to respond with your small group members, we can compare the details with what we have here at the church to determine how new people are connecting to the small group ministry at NPC. Please return your information via email by Monday, December 8. Please include the actual list of names in your reply, our list is a bit old and we want to review each name.

Please take 5 minutes to type those who are in your small group (at least first and last names), or attach your current roster and send it along to us?  We will review the list against our records and update our information. We have provided a file for leaders to keep track of important information on their group members. You are welcome to use this file and email it back to me (Nate).

Thank you for your time and for serving those whom God has placed under your care.

Please call or email with questions or concerns.

Small Group Directory

If you are interested in having a .PDF copy of the NPC Small Group Directory, please email Nate Conrad in the church office directly. In your email, please include a little about yourself and your use for the directory.

This is to protect the information of small group leaders from being inappropriately disseminated. Thank you.

Leadership Class Begins Soon

Perhaps you have been around for a while, or perhaps you are brand new to the small group leadership thing... regardless, the Leadership Class is a great way to extend your learning, network with other leaders, capture ideas and helps for how to be a more biblical leader.

The Leadership Class begins on Sunday, January 13, at 8:45 am.

You can register here: http://www.npchurch.org/adulted/schedule.html

More information: The Leadership Class is offered regularly to train and develop servant leaders, and is a pre-requisite for all elders and deacons in the church body.  Everyone is welcome to attend the 14-week class which covers the doctrinal distinctive of Reformed Theology, real-life application of the material, reading and in-class discussions.

New Year Articles

Welcome to the New Year! There will be several posts in the coming weeks to get you and your group ready to finish well this spring semester. Several groups struggle about this time of year due to the fullness of schedules, the myriad holidays in the spring term, and waning interest on the part of individuals and couples who may be marginally connected.

Come back to these web pages, this blog, for more ideas, resources, study helps and more.

If you are not already using an RSS Feed Reader like Google, Yahoo, or a bundled reader like that in Windows Vista, consider finding a reader to get regular updates from this and other NPC (Naperville Presbyterian Church) sites.

Don't forget to look around the site for resources that have been posted recently including studies, books, training materials and more.

Updating the Directory

Thanks again to all of you for your leadership of small groups here at NPC.

There will be some new groups starting up and there may be changes to existing groups. This is a good time of year to 're-group' and make sure that we are printing accurate information in our communications, etc. You have been emailed a copy of the Small Group Directory (If you have not received a copy, please email Suzanne and she can send you one). Once you have received it, will you please:

• Review the paragraph that discusses your group, and notify Suzanne of any changes
• Send Suzanne an updated list of the people who are in your small group these days

Also - if you know of anyone who is seeding new groups, or might be interested in that direction, will you please forward that info as well?

Please reply within the next two weeks, by December 21.

Recent Additions

We have added a new article and new websites under Ministry Partners and Blogosphere for small group leaders and for the church at large:

Our Ministry Partners:

• Mission to the World
• Mission to North America
• Wayside Cross Ministries
• Northern IL Food Bank

Blogosphere:

• Recover the Gospel
• Challies