My family has lived in our city for almost  eighteen months. When we moved here we were wanting to meet new people and be intentional about meeting people who may not have heard the Gospel or may not have a relationship with someone who knows Jesus. We had been told it was very difficult to break into relationships in this city with nationals especially if you don’t speak the local language.

I remembered back to one of the very first gatherings I was in with a group of guys from The Upstream Collective and how they recommended a website to us called Meetup. They explained how it worked and spoke of how people in Western Europe were used to meeting people online and making new friendships. I honestly walked away from that meeting thinking, “This is weird. I don’t think I could ever do that kind of thing.”

After moving and seeing no good way to meet people in the Western European city I am living in, I decided to give this website thingy a try. I went to the website to look for a group I might be interested in “meeting up” with in my area. There weren’t many that appealed to me personally. If I was going to try something new I wanted it to be something that I enjoyed. I decided to begin a Meetup group around coffee and conversation. I filled out the profile to begin a group and paid the registration fee for starting a group and the next thing I knew I had launched a new Meetup group.

Over the next several weeks people began to register for the coffee and conversation group. First there were two (2) then three (3) people and the next thing I know there are 25 and then 30 people who were interested in meeting and having a talk. Wow! People wanted to get together and meet other people they didn’t necessarily know.

The very first Meetup happened at a local coffee shop on a Sunday morning. I had the opportunity to set the time and the place we would meet to have coffee and talk. I chose Sunday morning at 10:30 am as the time for our gathering. We had eight (8) people come together to talk about life, work and to laugh together. Our group was a mix of internationals and nationals talking together in a common language.

We now have over 200 people registered as apart of the coffee and conversation Meetup group. We meet together once a month and new people attend each time we gather. There are usually around 30 people at each meetup. This has been a good way to meet new people and begin “investing” into the lives of others. I use this time together as a way to meet people and get to know them personally. We do not use this meetup time as a time to “pound” our beliefs. We are open about our worldview, why we live in the city and intentional about building and investing into the relationships. We are trusting the rest to the One who sent us here.

Here’s an understatement…I am really glad I tried something new.