What’s Your Favorite Thing About Small Groups?
We will grow to be like Christ in every way. He is the head, and the whole body depends on him. All the parts of the body are joined and held together, with each part doing its own work. This causes the whole body to grow and to be stronger in love.
- Ephesians 4:15, 16 (ERV)
This past week at our Small Group Leader Training, I asked the question,
“What’s your favorite thing about small groups?”
The answers were almost unanimous. “Relationships.”
Some people said things like “making friends” or “the connections you make”, or “community”, or “sharing” or “intimacy” or vulnerability” or “the investment you make in people”, but they all revolved around building relationships in some fashion. Small Groups are about the people.
The leaders talked about really getting to know other people through hearing their stories or through the times of prayer or through the times of sharing their thoughts about the passage of Scripture being studied and what God has been saying or doing in their lives. We discussed the fact that even in a church of our size, there are still people you might not know or have ever spoken to before or even engaged in a simple conversation. That’s why Small Groups are so important.
To be really seen and known, we must take the time and make the effort to see and know others. That can’t happen on a Sunday morning alone; it requires a small, more intimate setting where you can be yourself, a safe place where you feel accepted, welcomed and loved.
This season in Small Groups, we will go back to our study of the book of Romans; we are taking our time to really dig into the biblical text, exploring it together to really hear from God.
Along with that, we will be applying the HEAR method to our study. It’s a simple, reproducible method of reading the Bible with the purpose of hearing from God. Here it is in a nutshell.
You prepare your heart to hear from God.
You read a passage of Scripture.
You choose a verse that draws your attention.
You write out the following in a journal/notebook.
HEAR METHOD
Highlight: What is a verse(s) that stood out in the reading? Write it out in the journal or notebook or phone or tablet.
Explain: What is the author’s intended meaning in the context of the passage? Write a 1-2 sentence summary of the verse.
Apply: What is the principle to live by today? Write a 1-2 sentence response of how you sense God wants you to live it out.
Response: How does God want me to respond to Him and what do I want to ask Him to do in response? Write out a short prayer using the verse as a guide.
Then, once everyone has had a chance to finish up, you share what you sense God is saying to you and how He wants you to live it out.
This summer, we used this method in our summer small group, and it was so encouraging. It doesn’t take long to get used to, and soon we had some really powerful and insightful discussions that were life changing.
We are praying that the same type of thing will happen in every small group this fall.
There are 6 groups this fall to choose from – on different days and at different times and places, and they start the week of September 13.
Signups are live now through our website, the app or here at this link: LINK
It takes a little courage to take that step of faith, that and the commitment to be there regulalrly, but some things in life are worth it. Hearing from God and taking that journey with other like-minded people is worth it. Small Groups are definitely worth it.
Small Groups are one of my favorite things at Bridges.