Life Groups

Life Groups are all about “Cultivating Growth Together!” in ‘sermon-based’ groups that Study the Sunday sermon material and Support one another in ‘Share, Care, Prayer’ time each week! During Fall 2010 we launched these small discipleship groups to help create meaningful community and help produce intimacy in our relationships with one another as well as the Lord. Sounds great, right?! Sure! But there are many questions that need good answers: What will they look like? When and where will they meet? What will they study? What is their purpose? No small task. One particular challenge for us, as a church trying to ‘simplify’ our structures (see the “Simple Church” brochure on the Resource Tables at church for more details) and better meet our congregation’s needs, is figuring out how best to make Life Groups work in a way that fits well with our current ministry structure and yet doesn’t add an additional night or expectation/pressure to our already overburdened and busy lives. Easier said than done, right?!

Life Group Links:

• Click here to sign up for a Life Group for the 2012 Winter/Spring Semester (Jan-May)
• Click here for Weekly Study Guides & Group Lessons. (You can easily access http://tiny.cc/studyguides at any time.)
• Click here to hear this week’s Sermon

The Basics:

• Called “Life Groups” (LG, for short) > In keeping with our 2nd C, “Cultivate Growth in relationship with God and one another, we call them “Life Groups” so that these smaller community groups will foster an environment where we grow together. Our motto for Life Groups is “Cultivating Growth Together!”
• Meeting primarily on Sun & Wed Nights, from 6:00-7:30p, any Sun/Wed when Greeneville City Schools are in session during that particular week’s Wednesday. (Visit www.gcschools.net and look for their ‘traditional’ calendar for more info.) If school is out of session for any reason, there are no LGs that day/week (if no school on that particular week’s Wed.)
• Studying ‘Sermon-Based’ Curriculum > The “homework” is a brief devotional Bible study that is on the inside of the worship bulletin (and available above as a link.)
• Structured for ‘Study’ & ‘Support’ > The structure of the time in Life Groups will basically be divided between “Study” (6:00-7:00 – Discussion of Lesson) and “Support” (7:00-7:30 – Share, Care, Prayer).
• Sign-up months are primarily during the months of July & December (for following Jan or Aug, when LGs semesters begin), however you can sign at any time for the next semester’s LGs.
• A generic Adult Life Group or Bible Study will always be available for those who visit mid-semester or who may not yet be ready for a smaller and more focused Life Group. Anyone is able to join any time… no sign up needed. In fact, for new folks at FCC who want to join a Life Group, but who come mid-semester, this will function well until they can sign up for the next session (sign-ups will be the months of Jan & July).

 

How big are the groups? How do we form them? Who leads each group? Do they ‘divide’ when they get too big?

Quick Answers: 12 min-15 max. After you sign up, we will contact you with your group option(s). Group leaders are trained and accountable to our Life Group Coordinators. As far as the ‘dividing’ question… basically no, they do not ‘divide.’ We start new groups.

Longer Answers: We are asking that each group have a minimum of 12. This ensures enough folks are there each week. More than 15 becomes too large to be called, well, a ‘small’ group. Groups are formed by signing up (please indicate if there’s someone with whom you’d like to be in a group.) If you don’t know many folks yet, sign up and we’ll let you know your option(s). We understand that not dividing groups means, initially, that ‘veterans’ will be with ‘veterans,’ but also that relatively new folks will eventually be with relatively new folks. This is what makes these groups “sticky”, keeping people involved intimately enough that our groups can help meet one another’s need for spiritual growth. Think of it this way… People are like Legos™. Yes… people are like toy-shaped blocks… they have a limited number of ‘relational connectors.’ In other words, ‘veterans’ of FCC will more naturally want to be in a group with their friends. Fine. No problem. Go right ahead. Their ‘relational connectors’ are already, uh, connected. But new folks likely have more ‘relational connectors’ available. So newer groups will naturally have newer folks in them. Also, if your group doesn’t ‘gel’ well enough for/with you, if you need a break from Life Groups for whatever reason, if you’re serving somewhere else in the building on Wed Nights, take a semester off or sign up for another one next semester. Each group fills out an Evaluation Form at the end of the semester.

 

What do we do with new people who come in the middle of a semester?

Newcomers to Wed Nights will join the generic Adult Life Group or Adult Bible Study until time for the next sign-ups (the month preceding the beginning of groups, i.e., Jan or July). They discuss the sermon content in-depth and will go through the same discussion questions as other Life Groups, or, for the Adult Bible Study, they do a verse-by-verse book study.

 

Why aren’t we doing home-based groups (yet)?

We want to be careful to ensure that participation in a Life Group does not require people (many of whom have kids and teenagers) to add yet another night to their already busy schedules. If we had home-based groups, they would likely be a night other than Wednesday and would necessitate us communicating to congregants that we WANT them to be even busier than they already are… This is counter-productive. It produces burnout and waters down the effectiveness of already-existing programming (youth/children’s groups, much of which ministers to non-church kids/families not otherwise involved.) The Cultivate Impact Team, charged with oversight of Wed Night programming and implementation of Life Groups continues the best it can to account for all the important concerns: already too busy church family; how to ensure childcare; providing fellowship and encouragement; ensuring meaningful study of God’s Word; not ‘killing’ already existing and effective programming; encouraging churchwide unity of purpose, etc. We believe this is currently the best possible scenario for our church. So, our Life Groups ministry continues to be structured around existing programs.

 

Can Life Groups still do things outside of meeting times?

Absolutely! In fact, please do! While our structure tries to limit LGs’ meetings to a particular night for achieving its basic purposes (i.e., the 2nd C > see here), we would like to encourage groups to gather socially outside of that meeting time. In fact, meeting to ‘study’ and ‘support’ on a particular night may provide margin and freedom for LGs to fellowship more effectively during other times.

 

Why don’t we assign people to groups based on their neighborhood?

Sounds great on paper, but one of the poorest predictors of a potential deep friendship is the neighborhood in which we live. In most cases, it simply indicates shared economic status. Plus, Greeneville/Greene County ain’t no huge metropolis, people!

 

Why don’t we build groups around shared interests or a common ‘station’ in life?

3 responses: (1) We believe that groups will naturally achieve some of this when people sign up together with friends. (2) We think the diversity of a little mixing of ages, ‘place’ in life, etc. is a good thing and such intergenerational ministry is a high value for us. (3) Christ and growing in Him is a shared interest. So, get to know some new folks… that’s part of growth!

 

Why are we doing ‘sermon-based’ groups and not being allowed to choose our own curriculum?

Briefly: Increased engagement, attentiveness, and note-taking during sermons, better/easier preparation, increased quality of Group discussion, better learning and greater effectiveness, church-wide focus, easier to bring people into Groups, easier to recruit leaders, better assessment of effectiveness, and reaching more people. Need any more reasons?! )

 

Why aren’t we expecting Life Groups to serve in ministry together?

We expect Life Groups to serve one another well. That is, in fact, a ministry. This doesn’t mean we don’t want evangelistic witness to the power of the gospel to happen. In fact, we think it will happen organically when people are growing spiritually. That’s how a church grows… when its people live as personal witnesses to the work of God. That means people will want to come and see what God is doing… and then we’ll place them into a LG!

 

What do we do in the Summer or during ‘down time’ when no LGs are meeting?

Life Groups rest, take a break, play together, meet in one anothers’ homes, go to the movies together, etc. Also, the Cultivate Impact Team schemes to find ways to meaningfully bring everyone together (not just LG members, but anybody) during the intervening months for an occasional large group gathering.

 

Don’t the 2-month breaks mean that we’ll lose momentum?

Maybe some, yes. But, breaks and rest provide margin to allow for effective Life Groups to continue meeting and leaders to continue serving effectively for years instead of months. Also, we assume that Groups will likely continue meeting for fellowship during these breaks… and you don’t need the Cultivate Impact Team to program that for you! Plus, the ‘white noise’ of ministry complexity (i.e., too many programs achieving same purposes, rendering all of them diluted) is what really kills momentum, both for participants who are already living overstressed and overybusy lives as well as for leaders who would otherwise easily burn out. We need to find good ways to balance meeting peoples’ needs as well as enabling people to serve. That’s important for healthy long-term ministry. In fact, over the long haul, adequate breaks might just make all of Wed Night programming as well as the Life Groups more effective!