FAQs

A. Life Lessons Over Lunch is an environment in which a group of people gather together over lunch and watch a DVD message.  Life Lessons Over Lunch groups take practical Biblical teaching about everyday challenges and introduce those concepts to employees in a non-threatening environment.  They are employee driven, volunteer groups whose mission is to facilitate the spiritual growth of those employees who choose to participate.

A: The purpose of Life Lessons Over Lunch is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, by encouraging people to leverage their influence in the marketplace.  We do this by equipping them to create relevant and safe environments for participants to explore Biblical principles and consider issues of faith.

A: Life Lessons Over Lunch Partner Churches are churches who use the Life Lessons Over Lunch program as a way to reach out to the business community in their sphere of influence.  Partner Churches promote Life Lessons to their members as their church’s ministry.  North Point Ministries (through the Life Lessons staff) provides the materials and coaching, but the Life Lessons leaders maintain their connection with their local church.

A: No.  A Life Lessons group is a gathering of people in the workplace who meet regularly to watch a message on DVD over lunch. Life Lessons Over Lunch’s primary target audience is the disconnected and unchurched.  Over the years, we have found that the more a meeting feels like a Bible study or church group, the less likely this target audience will attend. We want new participants to feel that Life Lessons is for them, and not just for “religious people,” so we have intentionally designed it to be a low-intensity environment.  For this reason, the Life Lessons meeting is not intended to include discussion time, prayer requests, or other more active elements typical of a Bible study or small group.  That may happen, however, outside of the Life Lessons meeting.

A: Life Lessons began when a local business owner found value in the practical, Biblical principles he heard on Sunday mornings.  He decided to provide lunch every other week for any employees who were interested in watching a DVD of those Sunday messages.  Within weeks, his evening- and overnight-shift employees started asking for similar opportunities and an idea was born.  He shared the concept with some friends who also owned or managed businesses and by the end of the year there were about a dozen businesses whose employees were hearing life lessons over their lunch breaks.

In 2003, North Point Ministries—whose Sunday morning series DVDs were the primary content for these grassroots groups—hired one of these leaders and launched Life Lessons Over Lunch.  Today, there are more than 130 Life Lessons groups operating around the country, with several more operating overseas.

A: It is important that Life Lessons meetings do not occur on company time, but rather on personal time.  Lunch is the ideal time for these meetings to occur, as lunch is considered personal time.  While some groups have attempted to meet over breakfast before work, we have found that this often poses an obstacle that many prospective attendees cannot overcome.  Because it requires the attendee to arrive earlier than normal, it unintentionally creates a situation where only the "serious religious people" are likely to attend and undermines the goal of impacting a wider audience.

A: Groups typically meet in a common area at the office, such as a conference room, training room, or break room.

A: Most groups meet every other week or twice monthly (i.e., the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month).  Meeting weekly often begins to feel like a burden—for the leader, the participant, and the company—and over time creates a sense of "Life Lessons fatigue."  Groups that meet only once a month often find it hard to build a sense of continuity in doing a multi-part message series, and it's hard to gain momentum.  We've found that an every-other-week or twice-monthly rotation works best for most environments, and more than 85% of Life Lessons groups use this schedule.

A: Each meeting is designed to last an hour or less.

A: Based on the set-up of the room, either a laptop computer or a DVD player is needed to show the message.  If a laptop is used with a larger group, a projector will be necessary.  Some smaller groups have gathered around a laptop, but this would be impractical for groups larger than 4 or 5 people.  If using a DVD player, a television or a connection to a projector will be needed.

A: Typically, time is not allowed for discussion, and the environment is not designed for this.  We have found that making the group interactive unintentionally scares off those for whom attending Life Lessons is a big step in the first place.  When participants are interested in more interaction, we encourage that to happen outside of the normal Life Lessons meeting, so that Life Lessons remains a "safe place" for a wider audience.

A: It is not uncommon for group participants to desire more interaction and connection.  A number of groups have responded to this desire by creating a separate meeting that allows for more interaction.  In this separate meeting, participants may discuss the message they've seen and/or share prayer requests.  For most message series, we provide access to a discussion guide that lays out the big idea of the message and gives participants an opportunity to reflect on how the message personally applies to their situation.  If one of your group members wants to "own" this idea, it may present a great opportunity for them to exercise their leadership gifts.  Just be clear that this interactive meeting is separate from Life Lessons Over Lunch.

In groups that offer such an opportunity, they often mention it in closing announcements of their Life Lessons meeting.  For example, "Thanks for joining us for part 1 of 'Guardrails'; we'll be back here in two weeks for part 2.  If you are interested in taking a deeper look at this topic, there's a group of folks who get together on Tuesday mornings for discussion and to share prayer requests.  See Frank if you're interested.

A: There is no numerical determinant.  We have had Life Lessons groups as small as 3 people, as well as groups that have as many as 200 people.

A: Yes!  Life Lessons Over Lunch, by design, does not exclude on the basis of religious preference, race, or gender.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Some companies have "open" groups that allow outsiders to attend.  Other companies are "closed" to only include employees of that company.  If you are interested in visiting an existing group, contact the Life Lessons staff to see if there's an open group in your area.  We can be reached via email or telephone (678.892.5565).

A: Yes.  We provide an initial orientation prior to launching a group.  Once the group is launched, Life Lessons staff are available to coach Life Lessons leaders on an as-needed basis.  We are happy to offer suggestions on curriculum or help you navigate challenging situations.  We also create opportunities for groups of leaders in close proximity to one another to meet for mutual encouragement and to share best practices.  Finally, North Point Ministries offers opportunities for continuing education and leadership development, and many of those opportunities are open to Life Lessons leaders.

A: Approved groups can order free DVDs through the Life Lessons staff.  We have 60+/- different DVD offerings that have been selected for Life Lessons groups.

A: The leader and steering team of each group ultimately determines which series to watch, but the Life Lessons staff can provide some suggestions.  We have some specific recommendations for launching a group. These initial series are discussed in our "Launching and Leading a Life Lessons Group Over the First Six Months" document, which will be provided to you once you begin the process of starting a group.

A: Absolutely.  The following link will take you to a page where you can watch a Flash video of “When Less is More,” part 4 of a series called Time of Your Life, which deals with how we spend our time.  Time of Your Life was one of the top five most popular series in 2010 (out of more than 60 different message series).

Click here to watch this video.

A: It depends.  Because North Point’s messages are part of the “brand” that Life Lessons Over Lunch has established, we do expect that groups calling themselves “Life Lessons Over Lunch” would use our DVDs for the majority of their content.  However, there is room for using materials from a different church or other sources.

That being said, groups need to be very careful in how they choose their content.  It’s surprisingly difficult to find content that:

1. Can meet a listener wherever they are on their spiritual journey;
2. Both seasoned Christians and the unchurched will find appealing, engaging, and helpful;
3. Goes over well in a workplace environment; and
4. Won’t jeopardize the approval status of groups who have worked hard to gain the trust of their organizations.

While our catalog of resources includes more than 225 messages, there have been more than 230 Sunday messages from North Point that we have not made available for Life Lessons.  So even at a church where the Sunday worship service is built around the idea of “creating a church that unchurched people love to attend”, less than half of our messages have been found suitable for Life Lessons groups.  In some cases, there are individual messages or even whole series that we have removed from the rotation based on the feedback of our leaders.

A: There are three key ways that Life Lessons Over Lunch can help your church advance in its mission:

1. Your working members spend the best hours of their day at work, but this key aspect of their lives typically receives little attention at church.  Offering a workplace ministry like Life Lessons Over Lunch allows you to invest in your members spiritual development at work.
2. Life Lessons Over Lunch connects your members to the Great Commission by giving them a practical, “do-able” way to reach out in their spheres of influence.  As leaders see God use them an their Life Lessons groups to draw people to Himself, it builds in them a ministry mindset that can last a lifetime.  And what church couldn’t use more ministry-minded members?
3. As people who are disconnected from God and church begin to hear Biblical truth taught in a practical and relevant way, their desire to connect with God will grow.  When they’re ready to look for a church, the natural people to consult would be their Life Lessons leaders—your members.

A: That’s up to you, depending on your resources.  We have experience with both approaches.

When a local church has a staff person or lay leader with the availability to be the primary point of contact with the local Life Lessons leaders, we are happy to let the local contact serve as a “middle man” for both information and for ordering and/or receiving DVDs.  The advantage of this approach is that it offers the local church an additional connecting point with the Life Lessons leaders.  But it does typically create a delay in response times, since there’s an additional layer of  communication and resource delivery.

When a local church does not have a staff person or lay leader devoted to workplace ministry, we can seamlessly fill in that gap.  In those situations, a local contact connects leaders and prospective leaders with Life Lessons Over Lunch staff, and we take it from there. We can engage with them under the guise of “Life Lessons staff” rather than “North Point Ministries staff” so as to preserve their connection with the local church.  Their experience would be much like that of the 80+ other Life Lessons leaders for whom North Point Ministries is not their church home.

Whichever approach you choose, we will work with you to create a ministry experience that serves your members well.

A: No.  One of the hallmarks of the Life Lessons ministry is that we take practical, Biblical teaching to people on their turf.  Typically, that’s a workplace environment… or sometimes a restaurant or conference facility if the situation requires.  But moving the meeting to a church facility represents a decided shift from their turf to our turf, which undermines the whole spirit of the Life Lessons initiative.

A: We encourage you to check out the other pages in the Churches section, as well as the pages in the Prospective Leaders section (since that gives the broader picture of what's involved in launching a Life Lessons group).

Beyond that, you can fill out the Information Request form, or contact us by email or phone (678-892-5565). We would be happy to address any questions you may have about Life Lessons Over Lunch, how groups work, how Church Partnerships work, or workplace ministry in general.