What are meetups?
Meet-ups are events hosted by people at True Life that bring people together to create meaningful friendships around the things they love. Whether it’s hiking, reading, play-dates for kids, or eating wings, anyone can host or join a meet-up centered on something they love doing. Hosting a meet-up is easy, whether it be a one-time thing, or recurring.
Are meet-ups planned or supervised by True Life?
Meet-ups are independently hosted by people at True Life. They are external events planned and supervised by the meet-up hosts themselves, and True Life offers a platform for others to discover them. To limit liability, we require background checks for meet-up hosts, as well as a Release Waiver for participants in meet-ups with potential physical danger.
How do meetups differ from community groups?
Meet-ups and community groups both have an intentional, complementary purpose. Meet-ups are for temporary connection around similar interests, helping people to make friends. These friendships help provide a connection for people in our church who aren't ready to join a community group or who are looking to perhaps expand their relationship. Community groups are committed, family-like communities that are indefinite and location-based.
What liabilities are involved in hosting a meetup?
Meet-ups are events hosted by you, the host, so the liability for meet-up hosts is equivalent to inviting friends to participate in a private event you’ve organized. Participants for meet-ups with potential physical dangers complete the sixty-second Meet-up Digital Waiver which releases the host and True Life from physical liability.
Can I receive funding for my meetup?
In general, meet-up hosts and participants must fund the event themselves and find their own venue. The only cases in which True Life might provide funding for your meet-up is if it is service or mission oriented. Contact meetups@truelifedenver.com for more info.
What if my meetup has costs involved?
No problem! If people are okay with paying the costs, you are responsible for communicating and organizing your funding.
Can we do a book-study?
The main focus of Meetups is to build friendships. If studying a book together can help facilitate that then we encourage it. However, a Meetup should not be a substitute for LTG's and Community Groups. For all book studies the curriculum should be from the approved curriculum list here
What do I do if my meetup fills, or has too few RSVPs?
If your meet-up fills up, email meetups@truelifedenver.com right away so they can take it down from the website. If not enough people RSVPd, try reorganizing your meet-up at a later time with more notice, or try a different idea.
Is it hard to host a meetup?
Not at all. We want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to host their own meet-up. You'll fill out a short form with the plan for your meet-up. After the details have been looked over by our Meet-ups Lead, you'll complete a brief background check and sign a digital waiver. That's it! We'll post your meet-up details and offer you some initial guidance for a successful Meetup.
Are there any caveats about recurring meetups?
We want to ensure that meet-ups stay fresh and have a high level of engagement from both hosts and participants, so we require all recurring meet-ups to be renewed on our trimester schedule. This gives our hosts an easy exit if they feel the meet-up has reached a natural end, or if their availability changes. It also helps us be sure that no one signs up for a meet-up that has fizzled out already.
The other way to make sure that we are delivering the best experience for participants is to keep the event calendars up-to-date for each meet-up. When a new meet-up is created we will set-up the initial event (one-off or recurring), but it is your responsibility to add events or make changes. If we see that a meet-up does not have a calendar event scheduled, we will ask you to update it or consider cancelling the meet-up.
How will people hear about upcoming meetups?
True Life will mention meetups (in general, not specific events) from time to time during Sunday announcements, at times during Newsletters, people can access it through our Next Step page, and you can extend personal invitations.
If I enjoy meetups, why should I join a community group?
Meet-ups help provide a space of connection around similar interests. Community groups are long-term, family-like communities with a regular family meal, and are the heartbeat of True Life. Community Groups are the primary way that we seek to live out God’s vision for us as the Church. In community groups we seek to share: what we have, what we do, who we are, with others - so that we experience and give the life Jesus has for us.
I'm in a group, why should I attend a meetup?
Meet-ups will help you make more friends and connect with the wider church family by doing things you love together. Many community group members appreciate the long-lasting, committed relationships they've found in their CGs, but may feel disconnected from others in their life stage, or from most of the people they see at Sunday Gatherings. Meet-ups can help fill this gap in relationship.
What about "gray area" activities that involve things like alcohol, etc.?
Meet-ups communicated by True Life should have a primary activity that is not explicitly controversial. “Trivia Night” (at a pub in your neighborhood) makes sense. On the other hand, “Let’s get drinks” does not. Because we don’t know what going on behind-the-scenes in anyone’s life, we can’t promote public invitations to consume alcohol.
* Content adapted from Reach Church
