The second QT Seminar cohort is currently underway. The first cohort was held at a home during weekday mornings for adult members in South Wimbledon, while the Central group met mainly with young adults at Central GVC on Saturday mornings. A total of 30 people completed the course. This second cohort is focused primarily on cell leaders and is being conducted across three regions—South, Central, and East—on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
There are many workers in our church who serve faithfully, but among them, cell leaders are like small pastors who welcome diverse people as members of their cells and care for them through prayer, love, and the Word. Although there is certainly great grace in learning and experiencing new things, there is also much sacrifice and pouring out of oneself. That is why, compared to other church ministries, when someone is asked whether they would like to become a cell leader, it often requires much thought and prayer.
When the pandemic made it difficult to gather in person, we transitioned the cell leader meetings to online gatherings. Looking back, that began in early 2020. For a full six years, our cell leaders met only online. During that long period, leaders continually changed, and with more than 40 participants, there were many limitations to building closeness, even with breakout rooms. So we had long felt the need to gather in person again, but there were too many factors to consider, making it difficult. After much deliberation, we finally decided to use this QT Seminar as the starting point for resuming in-person meetings across the three regions.
After gathering only online for so long, meeting in person again was personally moving for me. When I asked who had previously attended an in-person cell leader meeting, only one or two people raised their hands. Despite their busy schedules, our leaders came rushing in late in the evening and spent a joyful time together through praise, prayer, lectures, and small-group fellowship.
The seminar consists broadly of lectures and small-group meetings. The lectures are divided into topic-based teachings on essential principles for proper meditation and step-by-step instruction on how to practice meditation in daily life. During the small-group sessions, participants share reflections on the lecture, practice the meditation steps they learned that day, and discuss them together.
During the week, participants are also asked to post daily in their small-group chat according to the meditation step they learned that day. As the stages progress, the content they post develops accordingly. The seminar itself lasts one month, and even after it ends, each group continues posting in the group chat for another month. After about two months, participants should become fairly familiar with meditation. Furthermore, if this meditation practice becomes a foundational assignment in the Bible study and discipleship courses planned after the seminar, participants could continue meditating for at least six months to a year. At that point, it would likely become a holy habit firmly established in their lives.
Whenever something is done for the first time, there are naturally many shortcomings. Unlike the first cohort, we greatly reduced the homework burden in the second cohort. In particular, we adjusted the daily meditation note postings in the group chat so that participants could share only what was most essential in a more realistic and manageable way. Although the lecture content is largely similar, we updated the program so that anyone can meditate more easily by explaining how to actively use the QTin devotional that our church uses. It feels fresh, and it seems to be well designed to help people practice meditation properly. Please look forward to it!
