A Life Group is 3-12 people sharing, learning, and generally doing Christian life together. In Life Groups we see Christian life modeled. We become more like Jesus. We become friends – more than a smile-n-wave on Sunday morning.
At Northminster we have two types of Life Groups:
- Groups with Bible study interests, and
- Groups with common interests (cooking, biking, booking, sewing, parenting, prayer, etc.).
Life Group Defined
In a large church, finding community and connecting with others is very important, yet sometimes challenging. A Life Group is a small core of adults (usually 3-12), with similar interests, who meet and spend time with each other 2-4 times a month in order to deepen their friendships and to take care of “one another” in real life.
God’s Idea: Life Together
We see in the Bible what the earliest Life Groups were all about, and how as Christians, we practice our faith.
“They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
– Acts 2:42 (NET)
In addition to their daily trip to worship, they met in smaller groups at different places. In these Life Groups they received instruction from their different teachers, prayed and sang together, shared life, and usually ate a meal. They were doing life – the Christian life, following Jesus – together!
“Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts [church], breaking bread from house to house [fellowship], sharing their food with glad and humble hearts [joyful community], praising God and having the good will of all the people [contagious worship & evangelism]. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved [growth].”
– Acts 46-47 (NET)
Purpose of Life Groups
In Life Groups we spend time with each other, and we see the Christian life lived in ways that are not possible in a one-hour church service. We mature by learning, talking and observing each other. This is how we can “be” the church and not just “do” church.
At Northminster we have two types of Life Groups:
- Groups with Bible Study interests, and
- Groups with common interests (cooking, biking, booking, sewing, parenting, prayer, etc.).
Either way, our friends help us become who God intends us to be. Personal growth is the result of personal relationships and a Life Group is God’s way of letting that happen and transforming our character.
How Do Life Groups Work?
NPC’s Life Groups are flexible. They meet regularly on campus, in restaurants, or homes. Regardless of the venue, this is where we get to know each other, to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to forgive and be forgiven, to laugh and weep, to eat a meal, to be accountable to each other, to watch over each other and to build a richer life together.
Ultimately, in Life Groups we live out our purpose, both as individuals and as a group of believers, to be the church. We share a common faith and God has called us to live that faith in a community where we know others, and others know us.
Life Group Benefits
One of Jesus’ final instructions to his disciples is in John 13:34-35:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, [as] you love one another.”
Note, Jesus did not say people will know us by how many churches we build, by how many Bible studies we complete, how many prayers we say, or how many people attend our church. The litmus test is clear: people will know we are Christ-followers when we love each other! A Life Group is the place to experience and practice that love.
“Our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful—Christian community is the final apologetic.”
– Theologian Francis Schaeffer
Our non-believing friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors are watching and deciding on the validity of the gospel message by the way we live. We need each other to help us live lives worthy of God’s calling. The only way people can see the power of God’s love is how we live. We, as a Life Group and as a church, bear collective witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.