September 27, 2024
Hello church,
Many of you will remember that, during the season of Lent last spring, we offered a chance to meet in small groups. Our hope was that this would cultivate new connections within our congregation and create a space to reflect, pray, and share stories with one another. It turned out to be so energizing and life-giving, both on an individual basis and for the whole community, that we want to do it again this fall. We’ve seen the way that gathering in small community creates a big community that is filled with the care, connections, and curiosity, and so we think it’s important that small groups become something we do here at Grace with some regularity.
So here are the details:
~ Small group sign-ups start next weekend and will be up October 6-20 (online and in the narthex).
~ Small groups will meet for 4 weeks in a row – same time, same group each time.
~ We are offering two times for small groups this fall: Sunday mornings right after worship (10:40-11:40) and Wednesday evenings (simple dinner at 5:15, small groups and children’s programming 5:45-6:45). When you sign up, you can sign up for just one of these times or both (which would let us know that you can meet on either day).
~ Sunday morning groups will meet – Oct. 27, Nov. 3, Nov. 10, Nov. 17.
~ Wednesday evening groups will meet – Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 13, Nov. 20.
~ The structure of these groups will be similar to last spring – Pr. Reed and I will preach on the topic of the day and we will write the content for the groups so that each group is working with the same material.
~ The topic for these small groups will be discernment. We will be wondering together about questions like these: How does faith inform the way we live? What does it mean to discern where God wants us to go or what God wants us to do when most of us don’t hear God speaking to us directly? Do each of us have a calling? How do we live our values?
We really hope you’ll be part of this opportunity this fall! We’d ask that you be able to make it to 3 of the 4 sessions so that groups can have largely the same make-up each week. We also know life happens, so if this is something you want to do, sign up and we’ll all be gracious with each other as life unfolds.
I’m so excited for this! I hope you are, too!
Pastor Sarah
Every Friday, we send an email to the congregation and any others who would like to learn more about the Grace community. The last four Friday emails are posted below.