I think I knew behind the scenes there was good community,
but I also knew that we weren't a part of it, really,
just by coming on Sunday mornings. Because we would walk in,
get our coffee, go to church and leave.
And we just realized we were missing something, and I think
we soon realized what we were missing was people to talk to
and like do life with.
We just decided, "Why not just start one?"
If we knew we were also looking for something like that
we figured that other people were probably looking for one.
There's probably someone else who feels alone
even at this church where there's so many people.
We had just gotten a house, so we thought, "What better place
to host a Life Group than our new home?"
So we just decided we would open our doors and let anyone
and everyone come and, just kind of started to fit and click
and people kept coming, so we kept hosting!
I think a Life Group kinda gives you a shortcut
to find people that are—that share a lot of the same beliefs as you
but also are looking for the same thing that you're looking for:
they're looking to find community with people, and they're also
looking for having a deep relationship with God.
It's the, having somebody who loves Jesus who can be there
and support you.
This is not small talk, this is, you know your failures, your successes
your fears, that all have to do with your beliefs.
Very quickly with our group, we just made connections
because people are so real.
Our leaders Laura & Jordan made it very easy for us
to feel comfortable and welcome.
I think that vulnerability— it's one of the hardest things for us
to do sometimes. I think it means that we have to trust people
enough for that not to come back and hurt us
The value though of being vulnerable with people is that
you can actually find a solution. That God can actually
come in and remove that thing. If you're not vulnerable,
if you don't expose a wound it can't be cleaned.
There's a lie there, that if I'm real it's gonna be scarier
or if I'm real it's gonna hurt more, but the truth is
is that when you're real, that's how you experience healing
in your brokenness, and that's how you experience hope
when you feel lost.
I personally just default into like a performance-based faith.
But I know that when I go down that path, that's when I
start to suffer the most, and that's when I'm most tempted,
and that's when I feel most broken.
And so I think doing community together like Life Group
has been challenging me every week to do that check-in
and stay real. And it's not just now that I do that with people
in Life Group, but I do that more in my relationship with God as well.
It's been helpful to have people point out places in my life that
maybe I'm holding Jesus out of. Or I'm, yeah, kind of keeping
to myself and not allowing other people or God in.
I have a space to talk about it, and if I didn't have that space
if I didn't create that intentionally once a week
I don't know that that happens as much without Life Group.
Now when I go to church there's so much more
because it's not just one conversation from the pastor to us
but it's like a dozen conversations between me
and all my friends at Life Group
It's been a really good support system to be able to talk to
the group and you know their advice
and their love is coming from Christ.
Having a group of believers that I can come and
just open up with, it's meant a lot to me just to be able to
express how I feel to other believers
cause I don't really have that outlet in other ways in my life.
It's just a great chance for people to come in with
the things that they're carrying—the heavy burdens—and kind of
set them down at the door and come in, and just know that
we're all there because we care about
what each other are experiencing.