Life Groups

(1/12/2012 - updated to reflect our revised vision, mission, and core values)
(4/22/2012 - updated to include questions to be answered by prospective life group leaders)

What Is a Cell Church?
What Is a Life Group?
Visitors
Finding a Group
Leading a Group
Life Group Meetings

What is a cell church?

Life Church is a cell church. In cell churches, in addition to meeting on Sundays, the congregation meets in small groups called cells during the week. At Life Church we call these life groups.

What is a life group?

A life group is a group of 3 - 15 believers who come together for fellowship, accountability, support, and outreach. The group members meet regularly, both formally and informally throughout the week. Our life groups are an extremely important part of the way we carry out our mission:

Life groups provide members with a safe setting in which they can learn to enjoy knowing Jesus without fear, inadequacy, guilt, or shame.
Life groups give members an opportunity to become a family as they follow Jesus.
Life group members learn how to function together as Jesus' body by making their gifts available to one another.
Life group members learn to work together to expand Jesus' kingdom by reaching out to the unchurched.

What are life groups like?

We support various types of life groups:

Holistic Life Groups
- Affinity Life Groups
Topical Life Groups
Bible Study Life Groups
Seeker-oriented Life Groups

Holistic Life Groups

Holistic life groups ensure that they deal with the whole person every time that they meet. They care for the emotional, relational, spiritual and ministerial needs of every participant. During the meeting the life group members seek to express Jesus Christ as members of his body.

These groups normally have no set end date, but they may take regularly scheduled breaks (e.g. summer vacation). They continue to meet on an ongoing basis and evolve as new participants join the group and the group eventually multiplies in order to maintain an intimate environment for it's members.

Affinity Life Groups
Affinity life groups are holistic life groups whose members are involved in some other common activity or ministry (e.g. Worship Team, Children's Church, etc.).

Topical Life Groups

These are groups that are organized to allow participants to explore some biblical topic in a focused way. They will normally have a limited duration (e.g. 1 - 6 months).

Bible Study Life Groups

These are groups that are organized to allow participants to do in-depth bible study. They will normally have a limited duration (e.g. 1 - 6 months).

Seeker-oriented Life Groups

These are groups that are organized to allow unchurched people to explore Jesus and Christianity in a "safe", low-pressure environment. They will normally have a limited duration (e.g. 1 - 6 months).

What else should I know about life groups?

Group Membership

Life groups may be single gender or mixed. They may comprise people from a common background (e.g. students, police, teachers, people in recovery, people in a particular neighborhood, etc.) or people from diverse backgrounds.

Groups will normally be open to new members but they may be closed for a limited amount of time (this will normally not exceed one year).

We strongly encourage everyone at Life Church to get involved in a life group but we strongly discourage anyone from being involved in more than one life group at a time!

Meeting Schedule

Most groups will have a weekly formal meeting that lasts about 90 minutes. Some groups may choose to meet less frequently (e.g. every other week, once a month, etc.).

Meeting Location

Some groups will meet in the homes of one or more of the members. Other groups may meet in a public place (e.g. Starbucks, a food court, etc.). A few groups may even have most of their meetings via conference call (especially for prayer).

Group Duration

Some groups will be ongoing with no set end date. Others will meet for a limited amount of time (e.g. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc.).

Visitors

Visiting a life group is a good way to get to know us better and find out if Life Church is the right church for you. We hope that you'll want to come back! We normally don't place any particular limit on how often you can visit an open group, but there are some exceptions:

If you are a member of another congregation, we will generally ask you to stop visiting after a month's time. This is because participating in our life groups places you under our pastoral care and this is not appropriate for someone who is already being pastored elsewhere.
If you are unable to submit to the group's leadership in the conduct of its meetings, we will ask you to stop participating.

Finding a Group

You can find a group to visit by:

Visiting our Sunday service and asking to speak with one of our life group leaders.
Contacting us by phone or email to request a visit.

Leading a Life Group

Leading a life group is a privilege and a wonderful way to serve the Lord. If you're interested in leading a group speak to one of the members of the Leadership Team. They will be able to assess your readiness and guide you towards any training or other preparation that you may need. All life group leaders are supervised by a member of the Leadership Team.

Before you start leading a life group someone from the Leadership Team will discuss the following questions with you and ask you to write out your answers:

What do you want to do (i.e. what type of group do you want to lead)?
What timeframe do you have in mind (i.e. how long will the group run)?
How will it work (i.e. how will the group be run)?
What is your mental model or theory of ministry (i.e. how does what you do in ministry produce results)?
What has God said to you about this?
How does your proposed activity advance our vision and mission?
How does your proposed activity reflect our core values?

[top of page]

New Website Preview