Everyone, at some point, should experience an Estuary Group. It's a place where people consistently have deep, impactful conversations.
An Estuary Group is a small-group style forum designed to provide open discussion where people can share, engage with others, and think through things together.
When you attend, you'll find people engaging in conversation about all kinds of ideas and problems. It could be about philosophy or theology, something recently read or watched, or even something very personal.
A typical meeting starts with introductions, for anyone who is new, and then everybody has the opportunity to share and offer up a topic for the group to discuss. It's not required that you provide a topic, but after a short round of discussion, everyone has to vote for someone else's idea. The person whose topic receives the most votes then kicks off the discussion time.
This process ensures that from the beginning everybody has the opportunity to talk and the direction of the discussion is decided by the group and not predetermined. An Estuary leader is there to facilitate the start of the discussion, participate as member of the group, and can step in if the conversation ever gets stuck.
Estuary KC is one of many independent Estuary Groups that meet all over the world. The format was created by John Van Donk and Pastor Paul VanderKlay through years of hosting and developing Estuary Groups. You can find an Estuary Group near you at
EsutaryHub.com.
In nature an
estuary is the unique ecosystem that develops where a river spreads out and meets the ocean. It is a mix of both salt and fresh water. Many kinds of life, plants, animals, and birds, call it home.
Paul VanderKlay has a YouTube channel where he has these types of conversations and he started
Bridges of Meaning, a discord sever that now has over 2500 members.