CONNECTING GROUPS

 

 We need others to grow spiritually and live out the Christian life. If you ask most of our church attendees why they participate in Connecting Groups (formerly known as Care Groups), the answer is often the same:  “I feel loved here. I feel safe to be myself here. I can take off my mask because people accept me as I am. I find people who will be honest and genuine with me.”

 

Safe people draw us closer to God, closer to others, and help us become the person God created us to be.

God doesn’t have any lone rangers. Isolation is of the enemy. When we purposefully build a core of solid, healthy relationships in our lives, when the winds and the rains come we are able to weather the storms of life (Matthew 7:24-25).

 

Why join a Connecting Group? Here are some of the benefits we receive:

 

• Nurturing –We were created by God to receive love, nurturing, affirmation, and value.  When we are isolated and disconnected from healthy relationships, we cut off the nurturing we need to get us through a performance-driven world.
• Encouragement and Support –There are times when we desperately need a friend.  If we haven’t been building our relationships, there will be no one to reach out to.  A group can become the family you have never had.  Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
• A Healthy Model –Where we have not been equipped to do the things that life demands in order to be happy, there are those who can teach and mentor us in spiritual principles and life skills that bring “life.”
• Love – Loving people love because they have been loved.  Jesus teaches us to love God, to love one another as he has loved us. This is his commandment.  We are to be the instruments or conduits of his love and truth and grace.
• Emotional Healing – Much healing comes through experiencing love, acceptance, and forgiveness in our relationships.  We need to grieve painful events, losses, and love that will never be realized, and many other hurts that life inflicts upon us.  We must have God and others to connect to in order to let go of what we’ve lost.
• Feedback and Confrontation –We need brothers and sisters who are willing to lovingly make us aware of our behavior, confront our denial, and take a stand against our destructive direction.  We need friends who can be a mirror to tell me what it is like to experience “me.”
• Acts of Service – God wants us to be dependent upon him, and interdependent upon one another.   We need to be stimulated by each other to do good things for one another, especially in a time of need.  (See Heb. 10:24-25.)
• Fun – Sometimes we need to lighten the load and just laugh with one another.  It refreshes us and refills our emotional tank.

 There are so many beautiful believers in our Connecting Groups who are making it a priority to become a truly safe person.  They are receiving healing through prayer ministry for themselves and learning life skills that make them successful in life and love.

 

Won’t you consider one of the many groups we have to offer and give them a call?  You can click here to learn what Connecting Groups we currently offer.

 

You can also call 303.368.7105 and ask for the Connecting Groups to receive the answer to any of your questions.

 

 

Connecting Groups are about connecting in relationship to others. We believe relationships are not a luxury, but a necessity in the disconnected and isolating society in which we live.