by Joe White, LBC Assistant Pastor
As we look back, 2017 was a BIG year for community groups at LBC. Here are a few things worth highlighting:
- New Community Groups! Brand new leaders have stepped up, opened up their homes to believers and seekers alike, and provided atmospheres where people can grow in their faith. A couple of the new groups I’m excited about are the “Family Community Groups”, also known as the “beauty in the chaos” groups, as parents bring their kids along with them! We’ve found this to be a rich relationship building time for the adults and the children. In addition, the kids get the rich experience of witnessing their parents study the Bible, a formative memory we hope will stick with them into adulthood.
- Community Groups Serving! Multiple community groups this year have participated in grassroots service opportunities. We love it when groups take the initiative to put action behind our vision to bring the good news of the gospel to our city.
- Community Group Leader Training! As we do every year, in September we had two Community Group Leader Huddles for leadership training and alignment. These huddles were an exciting opportunity to put our heads together as leaders and better equip ourselves for the future.
As we head into 2018, I’m excited about the future development of our groups ministry at LBC. Our vision is to create environments where we Encounter Christ Together, Share Our Lives with One Another, and Love Our City Well.
In addition to starting several new groups this coming year, we plan to implement our vision through a community group wide roll out of our “Discover Grace” class as a video series. Our hope is that through this series, more and more folks in our church will come to experience the power of the means of grace in their growth process.
If you’re reading this right now and you’re not yet in a community group, let me take this opportunity to encourage you to connect with one. This is the best way to find family in LBC, and grow alongside brothers and sisters in Christ.
As Scot Shiflett remarked last year, “Our community group is why we stuck at LBC.”
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit the online group directory: