Anyone can start a WWJB group. We don’t officially commission groups, but we encourage you to engage in WWJB-inspired encounters. It may be a one-on-one encounter after work where two people connect at a local pub to enjoy beer and share their heart about God. On the other hand, you may be led to form a group that meets to enjoy beer and make connections rooted in God.
WWJB-inspired encounters should be limited to people who are able to enjoy alcohol responsibly. You should not invite people who struggle with alcohol, and you should make it clear to attendees that it is not appropriate to participate in a WWJB-inspired group if someone is struggling with alcohol. WWJB should be an encouragement, not a stumbling block for people.
Tips and Recommendations
Start the meeting with a beer event
- Host beer tastings where attendees bring a couple beers to share. This encourages learning about different types of beers. You may even pick a beer style to focus on for a given meeting.
- If you have a brewer in your group then brew a beer together as a group. Most people that appreciate beer are interested in the brew process. Sample the raw ingredients (barley + hops), show people how to brew, and then bring the group back together in a few weeks when the beer is ready to drink.
- If you choose to brew as a group, you don’t need to brew every meeting. We chose to study one aspect of the brewing process each meeting, to help people learn more about how to brew since watching the process once is not enough to master the craft.
Host a Bible Discussion after the beer event
- Keep the group open to questions. The leaders and group members may not have all the answers, and that is ok, just be honest that it is a good question that you can’t answer. Perhaps you can research the question and bring answers to the next WWJB meeting.
- (b) Bring some questions or discussion topics to help get conversation going if nobody steps up with a question.
- (c) Encourage people to be real with each other. If they are frustrated with God, or if they aren’t sure they believe in God, then create an open and safe environment where they can voice their heart. The point of WWJB is to lower the fronts that people typically bring, so that they can connect with each other and speak from their hearts.
Pray
- (a) Either start with prayer, end with prayer or start and end with prayer.
- (b) It is important to invite God to the WWJB event. It is also important to demonstrate prayer if there are people in attendance that are not accustomed to praying. The WWJB mission emphasis connections between people and connections with God. We connect with God through prayer, so it is important to pray at a WWJB event.
- (c) Encourage others in the WWJB group to pray. The leader should pray if noone is comfortable praying in a group. However this is a good opportunity to give people the courage and practice of praying publicly in a group setting. It is our experience that many Christians pray in private, but have difficulty praying in front of others. Use WWJB to help them overcome such fears because Jesus called us to pray together in groups:
Matthew 18:19-20 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
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