GroupLife
GroupLife Newsletter
for Hosts and Mentors
In This Issue
Spring Resources
Summer Reading Available in May
Prayers for Fall
Guest Speakers
Quick Links
April 2016



I just love community and the feeling of connecting with others in a meaningful way. Our family just returned from the Mexico House-Building Trip, and it was an experience of overflowing community. Camping together for five days. Singing songs around the campfire. An intergenerational group building a house. Meeting a lovely Mexican family that made us an incredible lunch on the last day. Playing ball and doing crafts with neighborhood kids, even though we didn't all speak the same language. Reconnecting with the family we built for and with last year. Caring for one another regardless of language, age, socioeconomic status. It is through community that growth happens, God's work happens, and the Kingdom is experienced here on earth. That's why we do GroupLife! Thanks for all you do to enable community. Let's keep expanding it to more folks!

Kim Jones
GroupLife Chair
 
Spring Resources

Wondering what to do as a group this spring? Worship discussion questions are in the Sunday bulletin each week, written by Pastor Mariellen (or the preaching pastor), and the questions can easily be discussed in a group. Pastor Mariellen writes really good questions!

We also have a large collection of books and videos for small groups to borrow in our Resource Center. To make them easier to find, volunteers have been hard at work entering the resources into an electronic database. The categories "grow in faith resources" and "care growing faith" were created to distinguish small-group resources from the rest of the library books in the database. ("Care growing faith" materials are focused on care ministry.)
 
To use this database, stop by the Resource Center. The desktop computer for searching the database is straight ahead as you enter. Turn on the monitor and open the search window (see image below).

Search by subject, author, or book title with "grow in faith resources" or "care growing faith" in the keyword field (without the quotation marks) to search the subset of small-group resources. When you find a resource listing that may meet your group's needs, turn to the shelves on your left, where the books and DVDs for small groups are kept, to pull it out and investigate further. These resources can be purchased from the Resource Center, and if there are not enough copies available, more can be ordered.

If you ever need ideas for your group, please contact us at [email protected], and we will help you and your group figure it out!
 
Summer Reading Available in May
 
Want a GREAT book to read this summer? We will be offering Love Does by Bob Goff as a fabulous and fun summer read. Books will be available after worship on Sundays in mid-May. This will be the big emphasis of the church this fall, so get a head start and read ahead this summer!

Small groups old and new will be engaging in a video study of this book in the fall, highlighted by a visit from the author himself on September 25. And "Love Does" will be the theme of our Compassion Week in October. You won't want to miss any of the outrageous stories in this book! Please recommend it to your groups and friends.
 

Prayers for Fall
 
We invite you to be in prayer for the fall emphasis, Love Does. We will be launching many new groups to enable folks to experience community like never before. Please pray for new hosts to come forward and for people to be open to taking this next step. Be in prayer about how you could be more involved. Is there someone in your group right now who would consider hosting a group for six weeks in the fall? When we experience genuine community, we have to share it with others!
 
Guest Speakers
 
Several people have told us they're interested in visiting groups to facilitate a group conversation on a particular topic. We are compiling a list of potential speakers to make it available to all groups. Sometimes it's fun to mix things up and have a guest lead a topic! Examples include love languages, end of life issues, and generosity.

If you or anyone in your group has a topic you would be interested in sharing with other groups, please let us know. We have such a great variety of gifts and passions, and we look forward to sharing them between groups. What other topics would your group like to experience? Let us know at [email protected].