Redeemer Small Groups will relaunch the week of Feb. 5th-11th.

Click here to join a group, or contact Redeemer’s Director of Community Formation, Stephanie Workman

Redeemer Family,

If you’ve been around our parish for any length of time, you’ve likely picked up on the fact that we take Small Groups pretty seriously. We like to say that, “If the Sunday morning worship service is one anchor, Small Groups are the second anchor.”

WHY 2 ANCHORS?

Now, why would anyone or anything need two anchors? Why not just the one? The handful of you sailors out there will know that if you only use one anchor for your boat, it will float around a decent amount as the tides rise and fall and the current changes. If you want your boat to be truly stable, you’ll need two anchors.

Our lives are not so different. We all tend to drift about in the tides and currents of our cultural moment and we need multiple anchors to keep us steady.

PRACTICING VS EXPERIENCING

One of the ways that Small Groups keep us steady is that they provide a place to practice belonging. Notice, I did not say experience belonging. This is one of the great fallacies that most of us unintentionally bring with us into Small Group. We tend to walk in the door thinking/hoping/wanting that the Small Group will be a place where we are seen, known, understood, appreciated, cared for, and loved.

Now, that really does happen sometimes, and it’s wonderful! What a balm to our souls when our presence is welcomed and embraced. Huzzah! Three cheers. Pop the champagne.

However, sometimes our Small Group experience falls a bit short. Other members are awkward or simply very different from us. I’ve been in Small Groups in the past where I remember thinking, “I have nothing in common with these people!”

And that’s exactly where the Lord was at work, in my lack of common ground with the other men and women in my Small Group. We had little in common, but we had Jesus. We shared our need for the good news of the Gospel. And it was enough for us all to belong. The Gospel gave us a means of welcoming one another, dignifying one another, and eventually - truly caring for and loving one another.

2 ACTION ITEMS FOR YOU

If you are an adult who calls Redeemer home, we implore you to join a Small Group! Or contact Redeemer’s Director of Community Formation, Stephanie Workman, for assistance in finding a group that works best for you. Redeemer Small Groups will relaunch the week of Feb. 5th-11th.
If you know of someone inside or outside of our parish who does not yet belong to Jesus or to a Gospel-practicing church, invite them to come to your Small Group with you.

Redeemer Family, we are a parish that exists to practice Gospel Formation for Missional Presence. Let’s press into this together by practicing Gospel belonging around our kitchen tables and in living rooms. Let’s open our doors in hospitality to strangers. Let’s courageously walk through stranger’s doors into their homes.

We all long to belong with God and one another, and it doesn’t come naturally for any of us. So let’s practice.

In the Father’s love,