Redeemer Church of the Shoals will be going back to a small group structure starting January 26, 2025. This blog post will explain the necessities of these kinds of groups, articulating its strengths and limitations to best prepare you as we make this change.
First, the structure itself:
We’re going to start with four very large groups. The reasoning is here that we’d rather have to split a group and make two than to take a fledgling group and have to incorporate it into another. We expect massive participation in this new movement, so they will be large, but can multiply upon necessity. Groups will meet each week on Sunday morning from 9-10 am during our community hour. Kids Sunday School classes will continue during this time as they have before, up through grade 6. There will be a nursery open for the littlest ones as well, though of course, parents can choose to take little ones into their life groups too. Teenagers starting at grade 7 will be part of the life groups with their parents. These groups will not be opportunities for deep confessions of sin, or involve topics not appropriate for teens. Life groups will focus on fellowship and prayer, with a couple of reflection questions based on the sermon series to prime discussion. Leaders will not be teaching – there will be no curriculum. We want you to do life together – many of you do this naturally with your friend group, as you should, but life groups are a way for you to love and get to know others in the church, as you must. Each life group will then be expected to have a meal together once a month outside of the Sunday morning time.
The reasoning for this:
God’s Word instructs us as believers to love another, pray for one another, encourage, correct, cry with, praise with, etc.. Consider these words from Paul to the church in Colossae: Colossians 3:12-17 –
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
We do life together because we are one body. We’ll be introducing a new theme for 2025 – the theme of UNITY – One Church, One Faith, One Mission. This new movement fits perfectly with this new theme, however, all churches should be doing this – doing life together. And it’s good for us to be stretched into groups that are not natural affinity groups – we’ll be assigning people to groups – intentionally just mixing everyone up with all sorts of folks.
Limitations:
Because these groups are meant to be fellowship groups where prayer and encouragement are central, we do want to pursue deep friendship where discipleship and accountability are possible. We would love for younger women to look to older women for discipleship (Titus 2), and men to pursue close relationships with other men for their edification. Some of you have these types of friendships right now, and we do not want those to end – keep up the good work. If you are not in a friendship now where you feel you can be held accountable to sin or can pour your heart out, we invite you to let the elders know that, and we will connect you with the right person.
The elders will soon be resetting our shepherding groups, reigniting those shepherding relationships, and discipling those to whom we are called. Many elders and other leaders in our church are doing that right now unbeknownst to the flock as a whole, which is how it should be. We desire for our church to grow in maturity (Colossians 1:28), as is the goal of any Bible-centered church. So just be aware your new life group is not a discipleship group, and we want you to have both in your life.
Expectations:
We expect for our folks to be part of a life group. One of the reasons we are hosting these groups on Sunday mornings from 9-10 is that we’re trying to find a time with the least amount of conflicts. As was stated in our Sunday School model in the fall, we desire for you to give your whole morning on Sunday to the Lord, as part of the Lord’s Day. Then you rest and hang with the family. It is our hope that our groups will start with roughly 20 per group – that’s 80 people total, and that’s way more than we had in Sunday School – but let’s go for it. Get to know each other, love each other – do life together.
On Sunday, January 5, after worship, we’re having a congregational meeting to roll out the new theme for 2025. We will give even further instructions then for life groups, and we will find out the best way to let you know which group you are in! If you have questions about this, please contact me, Pastor Mark.