Small groups for whole life discipleship have featured as one of the six key practices for Making disciples in your parish over recent years and 4 in 10 worshippers in the Diocese are now part of a small group.
To support 'Life groups' in his benefice, Revd Marc Terry has produced 10 sessions titled 'Faith without walls' (downloadable below).
Those who participated found the sessions, which ran during December 2019 and January 2020, really interesting and helpful for thier discipleship journey.
Marc, Priest-in-Charge for the Bybrook Benefice, shares the story:
"Back in 2019 when planning for 2020 was fairly simple we were riding the crest of a little wave, thankful for all that God was doing. We were enjoying Youth Alpha and young people stepping forward in faith for confirmation. We were planning a Bible Course from the Bible Society and in January of 2020 the latter started. It gave momentum to lent groups and we began to explore #LiveLent. Lent lunches are popular in Bybrook and groups often meet to discuss the lent book. This year a small group start with one of our churchwardens, Pam Rawlins. Covid-19 arrived along with Lockdown and the group quickly transitioned to Skype (not Zoom, I know!), growing as it did. Meeting as families online the lent reflections formed a group eager to continue in Bible Study as the course came to an end. As a benefice we have a growing focus on discipleship but what course could we use, what would be relevant now?
"A few years ago I used a phrase in sermon referring to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem - 'What if Christ died to bring down those walls, and we have spent the last two thousand years putting them back up? What if we were meant to live a faith without walls?' I'd shared that same sentence only a year ago in By Brook. Faced with worship outside of church buildings (though we frequently travel the churches in the benefice) and without the building to support so much of our mission what does our faith look like? What does it look like if we find ourselves isolating in our own four walls? Our bible study group are heading into the middle of the course, exploring where God is the midst of our lives (or sometimes on the fringe) exploring what we can learn from the story of God's home in the bible, the tabernacle, the camps, the temples (so many of them) and more - and on the question - what if we were meant to live a faith without walls?"
Click to download the Leaders Notes.
Click to download the Course Notes.
Image of the chapel shown here and in the resource - credit: http://destinationw.com/indoors-or-out-five-glass-walled-chapels-for-your-destination-wedding