​Purpose
To help you grow in your faith through building community, pursuing intentional spiritual growth, and serving like Jesus as we live in to our mission to make disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28). These groups, by God’s grace, will seek to help you grow in your love for Jesus, in your following of Him, and in your journey towards becoming a fully devoted disciple.

What are the core values of Life Groups?  To Learn, Invest, Fellowship and Engage.

• Learn together about God through worship, study and prayer.
• Invest in one another and your spiritual growth through your commitment to participate and care.
• Fellowship by doing life together: Eat! Play!
• Engage our faith in the world through missions and lived experience.

 
Acts 2:42-47  (CEB): The Community of believers

• The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Learn), to the community (Invest), to their shared meals (Fellowship), and to their prayers (Learn).
• A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles (Engage).
• All the believers were united and shared everything (Invest).
• They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them (Engage).
• Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes (Fellowship). They shared food with gladness and simplicity (Engage).
• They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved.

 
How often would Life Groups meet?  
Groups would meet *4 times a month to learn, invest, and fellowship together which allows groups to develop in two main areas:

1. Intentional discipleship – this is hard if a group meets less than twice per month.
2. Authentic community – by meeting 4 times per month the potential of authentic community increases within a Life Group.

*Two ‘meetings’ each semester would be set aside to Fellowship or Engage so that social and missional events would happen once a semester/twice a year.

How many are in a Life Group?
Groups contain 10-12 people including one facilitator. The facilitator seeks to empower others in the group to share in this role of facilitating.
 
How long do Life Groups meet for?
Initial Invest:      Fall 2016-Spring 2017 with an April Retreat for all Life Groups and check in meetings for leaders.
 
What would a typical Life Group evening look like?
In its simplest form, a *typical Life Group evening will run for 1 ½ to 2 hours and include 20-30 minutes of enjoying community, 1 hour of discussion, and 20-30 minutes of prayer. Once a semester, the group would fellowship through social evenings. Once per semester each group will be encouraged to engage through service.

*1 hour eating and praying together, including children.  (Highs and Lows, Joys and Concerns, Written prayers)
*1 hour of discussion on the next Sunday’s scripture. Tools used might include informational versus formation questions, blog posts and articles, Lectio Divina and Engage Asks (What is God saying? What are you going to do about it?)

Where will groups meet?  
Groups typically meet in the home of the Life Group leader. Some groups may also rotate around group members homes should they wish to do so.

What commitment do I need to make to sign up for a group?   
Meet 4 times per month, *attend to each session ready to participate in prayer and study (Learn), love others, listen to others and learn from others (Invest, Fellowship), and apply what you are learning in service and mission in the word (Engage).