The following is from one congregation's experience of getting started. Parts of it may be helpful to you:

"Offering a series of discussions was considered and endorsed by the governing board, fully supported by the pastor, and then planned and carried out by a group of four lay people. It was scheduled for six consecutive Sunday evenings and publicized in Sunday bulletins, newsletters, and Sunday announcements by the pastor for several weeks in advance. However, most of the people attending had also received personal encouragement from a friend to attend. It was designed and promoted primarily as a small group effort. If large numbers attended, we planned to sub-divide into smaller groups."

"The planners developed four general goals for the discussion and presented them at the first meeting. These were:

• To break down barriers to dialogue;
  
• To increase clarity about the issues;
  
• To examine how faith informs the issues;
  
• To look at implications for our daily lives.

The group was invited to add other goals they thought important."

"At the beginning of the planning process, we shared our fears about what might happen in such a group:

• a shouting match could develop, or
  
• it could become a strictly intellectual discussion, or
  
• some people might be alienated, or
  
• we might be "too nice" to each other, or
  
• it might become a technological discussion, or
  
• people would feel inhibited in expressing themselves due to their lack of knowledge."

To help establish an atmosphere of open sharing we set out some ground rules, such as:

• Everyone gets to be heard.
  
• When someone expresses fears or hopes, they are to be acknowledged, not argued with.
  
• This is to be a dialogue, not a diatribe.
  
• The moderator may be "merciless" in intervening according to the ground rules."