Vicar's Voice, 12 January 2020

As we are still in January and the fanfare of Christmas and New Year has faded into memory, now we can continue planning for the year ahead. One thing that stands out as a method of growing in faith and Christian maturity is through Small Groups. While we come to church on Sundays and listen to the sermons, sometimes we don’t absorb much in the way of Biblical teaching and it is only 20-25 minutes of ‘teaching’ anyway. If that is all the Spiritual food we are getting it won’t nourish our faith very much. That is also made worse when we realise that because of personal circumstances, most of us don’t come to church every week. If we only ate a small snack once a week (at the most) our physical bodies would soon perish. I wonder how many spiritual lives are struggling from lack of nourishment.

Small groups are beneficial as they are meant to complement the teaching on Sundays. One of our goals as a church is to have almost everyone attending small groups of some sort. A very high percentage will benefit from the growth of the Church as we mature in our faith and put into practice the things we learn in groups.

Obviously, the main benefit of Small Groups is that they are held mostly in places that are conveniently located and at times that are suitable. Groups are flexible as we try to deliver a variety of styles. Some, like Alpha and Christianity Explored are mainly introductory to the Christian faith and are good for bringing new or enquiring members. Starting with the fundamentals of the Bile and the salvation narrative they seek to introduce, inform and challenge the enquirer. These groups are also good as a refresher for those who have been Christians for some time. They help to remind us what makes us tick and grow our confidence in witnessing to others.

Some groups are a mixture of socialising, enjoying good food and studying the Bible together. We have at least one group that has young children and their mothers as its focus and others that are for specific groups such as ‘men-only’, ‘women only’, young ‘singles’ etc. in the past, as the need arise, we have held courses that are affiliated with colleges overseas. Last year 3 of us completed the Ridley Certificate.

Next week we will have a list to circulate that gives you an idea of the various groups that are starting up soon and their times and locations. Pray about where the Lord might be calling you to join a group that suits your present spiritual need. If you decide to join a group but none of these current ones  suit, talk to me or one of the wardens and maybe we can gather together a number of people with similar circumstances.

In Christ,

Alan Wood