Community Gathering Roles and Responsibilities

What is a Community Gathering?

Community Gatherings are unique gatherings  that connect adoptive and foster families to a partner church who will wrap around and provide physical, emotional, and prayer support. Families do not need to be a member of a church to join a group. We want everyone to feel welcome and supporting. These  gatherings will offer teaching, crisis intervention for families and a place of authentic community and learning for adoptive, foster, and kinship families at all stages of the parenting journey. Community Gathering leaders should be experienced adoptive or foster parents who can facilitate a teaching time and lead  discussions so that families feel free to share with other like minded families.  

Structure - Groups will meet on a once-monthly basis in a home or church for approximately 2 hours^[1].  The groups will be provided a meal, childcare, curriculum for parents, and ongoing support for families through a local church and the resources that Tapestry provides.^[2] Groups will be open, allowing families to come and go each month as their schedule allows, but limited space will be available by registration.

Tapestry Responsibilities - Provide group framework, volunteer training when needed, and support for key people within the church.  Provide curriculum for adults and supplemental activities for kids as needed. When needed, Tapestry will subsidize meal and material costs for groups. Tapestry will also provide crisis intervention mentorship for group facilitators.

Church responsibilities - The gatherings will be connected to a host church that will provide the key people and location for the monthly support gathering. The church  will provide a meal for the families as well as childcare. The host church will provide ongoing support for families in regard to care needs. Ideally, a core group of church members, such as a small group, will support this community on a regular basis in order to build relationships.

Before starting a Community Gathering, churches should prayerfully look at who some key people are to support this community. We recommend that you incorporate some key people into the gathering to help facilitate different aspects of the gathering and prevent burn out of the leader.

Key People

• Church Advocate - This person is the heart behind the group and will commit to connecting the families to key volunteers to help meet the needs of the families. Needs could include meals, respite/babysitting, items for new placements, and prayer support. This person will also work with the other key people to ensure the group runs smoothly.

• Gathering Host - This person commits to making families feel welcome in their home or church. Coordinates with a caterer or team of volunteers to provide the meal for the gatherings.

• Childcare Coordinator - This person will ensure enough volunteers are available to meet the needs of the kids for each gathering and will gather materials for activities including snacks. Tapestry can provide trauma informed training for these volunteers in order to better equip them to serve these families.

• Group Facilitator - This person will be an experienced adoptive or foster parent who will guide the discussion of the group, coordinate any care needs with the church advocate, and help with any crisis situation. Tapestry will support the facilitator with training and crisis intervention support.

• Prayer Warrior - This person will take prayer requests from monthly gatherings to the church prayer team or designated volunteers and will follow up with families, if needed.