Apr 25, 2025 Grateful for Groups at Grace – Word of Grace Blog – April 25, 2025
Last night I made the last of the visits this year to all the Community Groups at Grace Community Church. This morning I have great joy from my experience with my brothers and sisters in these groups.
Community Groups and other small groups have been a part of our congregation since the beginning in 1993. When I am asked about how these groups got started, I often quote the ancient proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” What was at first a necessity quickly became the preferred strategy for mutually discipling and caring relationships at Grace.
When Grace began, we did not own property, and we had no building to house our congregation. It was difficult enough to find places to gather on Sunday for corporate worship, so we decided that if we were going to meet during the week, it would need to be in homes. Out of necessity we started Community Groups. We did not (and still do not) consider these groups “house churches,” but we did consider them important gatherings for prayer, Bible conversation, and relationship building for discipleship and care.
Here we are over thirty years later, with property and buildings for gathering, and Community Groups are still a part of our church-life. That’s because the ministry that takes place in these groups helps keep us faithful to Christ and connected to one another. And they connect people who are new to Christ and to our church. The Community Group ministry has been so helpful that we started offering them at the church building for the parents of children and youth who meet on Wednesdays.
To have real conversations about how the truth of the Bible gets pressed into our lives, to pray for the needs of people and the souls of others, and to experience genuine care and love from others, is encouraging to me. To see how new people have been brought into fellowship with Grace so quickly in these groups is satisfying.
So, as I drove home last night from an encouraging two hours with a group of brothers and sisters meeting in a home twenty miles from our church building, I felt such joy. This morning I am grateful.
This Sunday at Grace we will continue our sermon series with Proverbs 8. Read this chapter this weekend and pray for our congregation.
This Sunday evening at 5:00 we will meet with Ben Chally as the candidate for Pastor of Adult Ministries. Join us in the Chapel.
-Scott