What Is A Community Group?

Community Groups are where the life of the church is lived out beyond gathering for worship on Sunday mornings. Community Groups primarily meet in homes throughout the week. They are led by godly leaders who seek to carry out the mission of SCC "to lead people to know Jesus, to grow in the love of Jesus, and to share the hope of Jesus." The focus of our Community Groups is like a four-legged stool. Each of the four legs are required for our church family to become all that God wants us to be. The four legs of the stool are the following:

Loving We see throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts, that the early followers of Jesus loved one another. They shared their lives with each other, met each other’s needs, prayed for each other, and simply lived life together. This shared life was extremely attractive to non-believers outside the church and ultimately led to reaching many people for Jesus. Community Groups are where our church family can practice loving one another and "do life together" outside of our Sunday worship services.

Learning When Jesus called the 12 Disciples to follow him, he taught them as they lived life together. Bible study should be a priority of every follower of Jesus. In our Community Groups, Bible study is a critical part of what we do. We have a mixture of church-wide studies, as well as, group-decided studies. The goal is that each Community Group would be growing in knowledge of the Word of God as they meet together so they can live out the teachings of the Bible in everyday life. As group members grow in their own understanding, they can then teach others and lead others to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Serving In Mark 10:45, Jesus made it clear that he came to serve, not be served. He set the example for his followers by washing his disciples feet. A goal for our Community Groups is that each group would find ways to serve inside the group, inside our church, and outside in our local communities. Serving is not be an option for Community Groups, but rather a focus area to show the love of Jesus through serving others.

Reaching In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commissioned his followers to "go and make disciples of all nations." This wasn’t a suggestion…it was a command! We are called to reach those who are not yet followers of Jesus. While our Community Groups are serving in our local communities, the ultimate goal is to lead people to Jesus. This requires speaking words of truth about Jesus.

For more information, contact Chris Stockmyer at cstockmyer@bellsouth.net.