FAQ: Can someone join a group mid-semester?

Yes and no. We have both "on-going" groups that are easy to jump into at any time. And we also have groups that must be joined in the first two or three weeks of a semester. For instance, a person must join our core discipleship groups within the first 3 weeks (Alpha, Journey, Crown, OT and NT Survey, Spiritual Experiments, etc) or they won't get the full impact of the experience. Most of our groups, however, remain open throughout the semester. It's really at the discretion of the group leader.

I like having groups that can be joined at any time because our church is so transient. We only have some people here for a month or two while they work an internship, so it's good to have places for them to plug into. In other churches, a closed group model may make more sense. Northpoint Community Church does the closed group thing very well and is a great place to get ideas.