A simple gathering of people intending to connect around the Grace Snellville online worship gathering. Some Watch Parties may watch it together, while others may gather later and discuss at that time.

Watch Parties can meet together online, outside, or indoors, depending on the confidence and comfort level of the community.

We envision Watch Parties starting small, in trusted groups of 2-4 families (or 10-15 total people). The connections will likely come through either neighborhood nearness or a pre-existing relational network. As the summer progresses and the public health situation clarifies, however, it may be that the number of people in your group would grow according to the comfort level of the group and the leading of the Holy Spirit to invite others.

We believe the prime window for gathering is on Sundays–particularly mid-morning–because that time slot seems to be relatively “unscheduled” for many people, particularly right now. That being said, if there is a better time for your particular Watch Party, we bless you to experiment and adapt!

Working out time expectations is crucial–we recommend scheduling an hour to engage the Grace Snellville Sunday gathering online and an hour for discussion and connection. If you include food and really like the people in your Watch Party… well, in that case all bets are off.

Each Watch Party will have a designated Host to help lead the community. The Host will invite and facilitate the gathering with support from the team at Grace Snellville. If you’d like to fill out a simple form to be a HOST, click here.

We imagine that many people at Grace already know 1-2 other families or friends who would naturally connect–so we encourage you to reach out organically, identify a host, and move forward that way. If you don’t have those connections, however, please fill out the potential Watch Party Participant form here.

Our team has developed simple and relatable discussion guides that will dig deeper into the Scripture and sermon direction. We will get these to the Hosts each week so that they can use them to facilitate discussion.

The content is designed in such a way that a person can join in at any point without feeling “behind” or that they have to catch up on it all (though they may find themselves wanting to catch up!)

Our children’s team at Grace Snellville is also developing child-specific resources for the Watch Parties. We will be offering a drive-thru craft and resource pickup each week so that Watch Parties with a lot of kids can have some activities and content direction for their kids. In some cases, the primary focus of the Watch Party may be leading our children in some basic spiritual discussion and prayer, and that is entirely OK! Other groups with a lot of kids may find it more effective to designate leaders or even hire a couple students to help,

Our first recommendation is that our students participate with the adults in the discussion. In addition, our Grace Student team is working to connect and coordinate both High School and Middle School students with each other for additional activities through the week. It may be that in some instances, there will be student-led Watch Parties.

Healthy human interaction, deepening relationships, opportunity to get to know people in new ways, spiritual conversation, a unique encounter with God and His Word.

We encourage you to gather with that group to try a Sunday Watch Party together. Once you have a basic idea of how it works given your specific circumstances, we encourage you to pray and discuss whether to multiply your community group into several different Watch Parties so as to incorporate some others who may not already be part of the community, or you may feel like there is plenty of mission to be done with the people in your community and so continue doing Watch Parties with that group. Following the leading of the Holy Spirit and flexibility are key!

For those who meet in-person, each Watch Party Host will be expected to work with participants to develop clear, agreed-upon expectations for social distancing, facemasks, etc. Our goal is to minimize risk and stay in accordance with the current safety guidelines. Because the COVID-19 situation itself is constantly shifting, we expect Watch Party safety practices to be a necessary and continually-developing subject for the group.

Food is by no means necessary, but it is remarkable to observe how often Jesus delivers his most profound teachings and miracles around a meal. Depending on your group, it may be as simple as brewing a pot of coffee and maybe sharing responsibility to bring a dozen donuts. Others may desire to bring their own food. Regardless, we encourage you to consider how to incorporate some simple meal-sharing (or donut-sharing!) into your Watch Party.

We know from our experience of the last eight weeks that singing along with the TV can be a bit awkward, even at the best times. And we also recognize that there is a sweet reality of God’s presence when God’s people sing together. If someone in your Watch Party has the ability to lead some simple worship, great! Feel free to incorporate some simple singing into your gathering. Even if you don’t have anyone to play music, you could also consider singing acapella. After all, Psalm 100 says we are to make a joyful “noise” to the Lord… it doesn’t have to be a perfect melody!

This is another aspect of the in-person gathering that we deeply miss. We are glad to equip your Watch Party Host to lead the community in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

We are here to help you.
If you have questions or need to talk with someone, email .