Did you know that we were designed to thrive in community with other believers and grow better together? Jesus modelled that for us during his time here on earth, recorded in the Bible. Not only did Jesus meet believers in larger groups (much like our church community), but he also took time to nurture relationships in smaller community settings.
Micro-communities that we form in order to intentionally share life together (like Jesus’ 12 disciples) are essential to both our personal and spiritual growth. Whether they’re organized around a common interest, a service opportunity, or an area of personal growth, these Life Groups that we form are about pursuing life change through community.
They are environments where we have an opportunity to be authentically known, challenged, and grow.
Most people who have been a part of a Life Group say the greatest benefit is the close relationships and friendships that develop. They will frequently telephone each other during the week to share an urgent prayer request or an exciting answer. It’s a place where you’ll discover that your needs and problems are not unique ~ we’re all in the same boat. It helps to know that others are facing the same difficulties, or have lived through them and learned spiritual principles in the process.
Too often, when we spend time with friends, we end up chatting about small talk. Things like movies or TV shows, sporting events, or even recent purchases, are often the focus of conversation. Don’t get me wrong, those types of conversations are not bad, but it allows us to keep others at an arm’s length. However, when we open ourselves up and share our spiritual lives with trusted friends or family, those more meaningful conversations will typically end up drawing us closer to one another. Also, getting someone else’s perspective often helps us see things in God’s Word that we might not have noticed on our own.
Red Willow Community Church believes strongly in community and one area that we’d like to grow this year, is our Life Group community. . . those smaller micro-communities where we can be intentional about sharing life together and being accountable to one another.
As a first step towards building this community, we would like to take advantage of a new feature that the YouVersion Bible App has to offer. . . Plans With Friends.
Maybe you have a challenging issue in your life that you’d like to address by inviting a friend or two to join you in reading a plan together. You’ll see one another’s progress as you complete days, and you can talk over each day’s reading in a private discussion area. Or maybe you want to kick off a group Bible study by inviting a few of your friends — or several — to start a Plan with you. As you complete each day on a shared schedule, you’ll likely see things in God’s Word that you’ve never noticed before, learning from one another’s perspectives in a group-text style of conversation.
Getting started is super easy:
- Update your app (or download it if you don’t have it yet)
- Start any Plan
- Select “With Friends”
- Choose a start date
- Invite your Friends
It’s as easy as that. 🙂
If you’re not quite sure about inviting friends, but would still like to try out a YouVersion Bible plan with others in the Red Willow community, here are a few options for you to join (each URL is a clickable link):
- The Time Is Now reading plan (goes along with Pastor Dan’s current sermon series) hosted by RWCC and starting on Wednesday, January 10: https://bible.com/p/1159865/628d13f163b8a8ce1a3258521707d5f5
- Lead Like Jesus hosted by Danielle Rochford and starting on Sunday, January 14: https://bible.com/p/1160114/c577b6cefe42ab8708e2a600dbde7641
- Authentic Prayer hosted by Danielle Rochford and starting on Sunday, January 21: https://bible.com/p/1160190/db2e723d477030e42f04838a1803d8f6
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