 Studies show that having 4-7 intimate Christian friends and serving in a weekly ministry at a local church are some of the greatest predictors of spiritual growth. So there’s no way we could not value small groups as a church. R|C groups are a great way to help people get connected into the church, mature in their relationship with Jesus, and make deeper relationships with others. To be known and know others.
Unfortunately, if you’re like me, you haven’t always had the best experience in group settings. To me there is nothing worse than being assigned to a group of people or feeling stuck in a bad group situation. So whenever I heard about “free-market” small groups I was amazed! Someone handed me a catalogue of groups and told me I could pick from what I liked, as well as check a few out, and find out who I really could connect with... without hurting anyone’s feelings. I ended up picking a group of young adults who ate dinner together and read the Bible. Because who doesn’t like free dinner after a long day of work? As we started the conversation about what small groups would be like at RE.THINK it was clear that we wanted our groups to reflect the personalities and interests of the people at RE.THINK. So every trimester we decided we would have a new set of groups. Leaders would get to choose what they wanted to do in their groups for the trimester. Some groups can be more interest/activity based, some follow particular studies, and some could even be more hands on out in the community serving. We decided to call them R|C Groups. When I say that I love this style of small groups I mean I really LOVE it! Groups are fun, leaders are passionate because they get to choose something they already love, and there is freedom in getting to choose a group yourself. It’s also a place where people who maybe aren’t up for trying out church yet can feel comfortable attending, asking questions, exploring faith, and making new friends. I’m looking forward to seeing how creative these groups get going forward. I know churches with groups that meet up to talk about God while water skiing, watching Disney movies with a bowl of popcorn, or while preparing meals for kids in other countries! Once we were challenged as a team to figure out what JWS2 meant.. Turns out it’s an acronym for a small group that was found, and it stood for, “Jesus was single 2!” Hopefully groups will never have to be an obligation but something that we love and get excited about! So take some time and check out our current RE.THINK Groups for the fall. We hope to see you there! -Abby Goering
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
