What are your plans?

What are your plans to stay connected to your small group/life group this summer?  What are you gearing up to do next year with your group?  We'd love to hear it - your thoughts might give others ideas!


Blessings on your summer!


The Life Group Ministry Team

Reflections on the Year

This coming Monday, my small group meets for the last time before taking a break for the summer.  I'll miss my Bible study partners during the summer season, but I know the months will pass quickly and we'll be back at it before we know it.


My small group started this past fall - our aim was to study the Bible, more deeply than most of us have done in the past.  I admit that the first thing we chose to do kind of fell flat - that's the learning that accompanies trial and error I guess.  But we stuck with it, had a great conversation about what each of us is looking for, and dug in again.  These last months, we've been reading the book of Esther, with a free study guide that we found on the internet as our guide.  It was GREAT! We loved the story, and we learned so much about the period of time, and about how God works behind the scenes.  


Along the way, I've gotten to know my small group mates, and have grown to love them.  I pray for them, care about them, and I'll miss them, personally, this summer.  This coming Monday, our last time together for the year, we'll celebrate our new-found friendships, our learning during the year, and look forward to fall and what we want to do at that time.  I can't wait!


I pray your small group/life group experiences are similarly as meaningful.  If they are, I thank God for that. If they could be better, let the Small Group Ministry team know, and we can help with a small group "tune up!"  


Blessings on your small group, and on your summer.  


Here's a call out to small groups that meet in the summer - I know some of you do some fun things - tell us what they are, by responding to this post!!!

Small Groups Serving!

I was speaking with someone in a small group the other day, and she said that her small group has decided to be a serving small group - with their kids and all.  Each month, they are choosing an Easter Serves! project (http://easter.org/wordpress/easterserves/).  What a wonderful way to grow in community with each other, teach the kids about service, and serve in the name of Christ!


We love to hear stories about Easter's small groups!  What's your story?

What's Happening in YOUR Small Group?

Are you in a small group (life group)?  We'd love to know what you're doing these days?  Is there a Bible Study you'd highly recommend (or not!)?  Are you doing some fun social or service things?  Please share here, by commenting to this post.  We want to hear from you!

Stephen Ministries in St. Louis has done a lot of research regarding church small groups.  One of the big questions they tried to address was:  “What do these folks really need?”  Here are some of their findings:

•    Spirituality -- helping people experience Jesus and His saving power in their lives

•    Community -- helping people experience Jesus in one another, giving them the sense that they are connected to a “body,” a loving community, as well as to the Creator and Sustainer of all things

•    Care -- helping people experience Jesus in their pain and suffering. When many people are most clearly in need of the gospel and most open to God’s presence and the healing, saving power of Jesus

•    Service -- helping people experience meaning, purpose, and significance by participating in Jesus’ mission in the world and being involved in something that is not only bigger than themselves, but also life-transforming and enduring

So the question Easter's small group team wants to ask YOU is this: What do YOU get out of your small group?  Please share it with us by posting a reply to this blog!