Toolbox

In this lesson you will learn about the purpose and nature of a community group at Grace Community Church.  “Community Groups” is our new title for “Small Groups”, and describes our purpose and mission to celebrate Jesus, love one another, and live on mission where we work, play, live, and learn.

We define a leader as someone who strives to imitate the character of Christ.  Jesus was and is our supreme example of what it means to lead, love and serve others.  In this lesson you will explore the distinctives of a Biblical leader.

Healthy leaders lead out of their gospel identity.  When a leader operates from the acceptance, love, and approval they have received in Christ, they will serve and shepherd others with appropriate boldness and genuine humility.  In this lesson you will discover how a leader leads from an identity that is firmly rooted in Christ.

Healthy leaders seek to abide in Christ, live by the Spirit, and know God through his Word and prayer.  A Christian leader draws deeply from God’s resources in order to meet human needs through the Spirit’s power and provision.  In this lesson you will learn what it means to abide in Christ and practice habits of grace that will draw you closer to your Lord and Savior. 

The gospel is good news for our salvation and sanctification.  It is the doorway for becoming a Christian and the pathway for growing as a Christian.  As we grow in our understanding of the gospel, and believe with greater faith all that God has given and promised to us through Christ, we will find ourselves living more fully out of our identity as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. In this lesson you will learn how the gospel continues to change us as followers of Jesus.

The Bible is central to our knowledge, adoration, and worship of Jesus. It is the living Word of God that reveals to us who God is and what he requires us as his children.  Healthy community groups make the Bible a focus of their gatherings and a priority for their study and formation. In this lesson you will learn about the foundations of the Bible and how to lead various studies in God’s Word.

Prayer is the fuel for our communion with Christ, our care for one another, and our missional engagement in the world.  In this lesson you will hear from a variety of voices on the importance of prayer, how to lead a group in prayer, praying for the lost, and partnering with our Beyond field workers.

Christian community is compelling when the diverse family of God gathers in unity and love founded on their identity in Christ.  When community groups pursue unity and seek to love each other as Christ has loved them, others will know that they belong to Jesus.  In this lesson you will hear how a group pursues compelling love and unity while becoming a visible community to a watching world.

No community group is perfect and every group will experience conflict.  Conflict is not something to avoid but rather is a healthy sign that a group is moving toward authenticity and true community.  In this lesson you will learn why conflict should be embraced and how to navigate it with wisdom and love.

Every member of a community group has something to offer.  If they are an adopted son or daughter of God then they have been given gifts from the Holy Spirit and those gifts are to be used for the good of the group and the building up of the body of Christ.  In this lesson you will learn how to lean into your own gifting as well as identify and encourage the gifting in others.

Jesus has given us the responsibility and privilege to go and make disciples of all nations.  This is the central goal of community groups as they seek to make mature disciples through life on life relationships, life in community fellowship, and life on mission engagement.  In this lesson you will learn the why and how of discipleship and disciple making.

The gospel is good news that is meant to be shared!  We are to declare and display the gospel through our words and actions and we seek to live on mission where we live, learn, work, and play.  We are everyday missionaries with everyday opportunities to make the good news of Jesus known. In this lesson you will hear how a community group can seek to be on mission together as well as encourage the missional opportunities every individual group member has in their everyday lives.

Community groups join the mission of Jesus by expanding their community to reach more and more people with the gospel.  This happens as groups welcome new members, develop new leaders, and deploy new groups. In this lesson you will learn a way of thinking and operating with a multiplication mindset for the extension of gospel community and the growth of God’s kingdom.