A mentor once said to me: “Who you become 10 years from now will be shaped by two things: 1) what you put into your head (e.g., thoughts, books, media, focus) and 2) who you spend your time with.”
We are entering into year three of our small group ministry. I am absolutely convinced that God will use small groups to transform who we become - as people and as a community - over the next 10 years.
We’ve been grasping a deeper calling to be the church: in our homes and neighbourhoods, in our places of work and play. Inter-generational by design, our small groups are a safe space to grow and practice Jesus’s way of love in a circle of others who are learning too.
Q: Run through a typical small group meeting. How does it work?
A: The rhythm or structure of each small group gathering is identical. We’ve settled upon this rhythm through research into best practices, trial & error, and participant feedback. Gatherings last about 90 min and are shaped as follows:
Prayer - a short prayer by the leader to gather people together
Check-in - an opportunity to see how everyone is doing
Discussion - reflection upon the scripture passage that will be preached the following Sunday
Practice - how might we put what we’ve heard into practice this week?
Worship - close by acknowledging the presence of God through prayer
Q: What is the agenda and purpose of the group?
A: The purpose of a faith-based small group is to build trusting relationships with God and one another. You might think of it as a high structure, low agenda environment. That is, we typically adopt the same rhythm each week (see previous question), but there is no specific agenda other than gathering around the scripture with others who are also learning. In this sense, small groups differ from OMG Tuesdays in that they are not built around a particular theme or topic.
Here is how participants have described Small Groups:
· Great experience
· Fellowship, compassion
· Deepening of faith
· Thoughtful and insightful
· Learning, sharing, praying
· Open-ness, acceptance, warm community
· Fellowship, compassion
· Deepening of faith
· Enlightening; fun; warm
· Learning, sharing, praying
There is no formula, only ordinary people, trying to learn how to follow Jesus together.
We are now offering online, hybrid and in-person sessions for small groups.
For more details, contact Andrew Federle at afederle@stclementsto.ca or visit stclementsto.ca/small-groups.
Click here to register, or scan the QR code for more details on dates and times.
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