Adrian Bright writes:

Here’s more information on what we’re targeting with Discipleship in Pip n Jay! I’ve talked about the teaching plan, and about courses; now it’s the turn of small groups.

Pip n Jay has had a long history of encouraging church members to belong to small groups – whether they be called housegroups, homegroups, daytime groups at church, special groups such as Soul Sista, and so on. A very large percentage of the church are already in a small group of some kind, and one of our targets with discipleship is to bring small groups into the centre (alongside Sunday services) of church life, so that it’s just as ‘normal’ to belong to a small group as it is to come on a Sunday. There are lots of reasons for this, such as:

• Spiritual gifts: small groups are a great place for identifying gifting and giving opportunity for exercising and experimenting with gifting in a ‘safe’ setting;
• New leaders: As people get to know each other in groups, the future church leaders can be identified and given the chance to lead;
• Supporting and encouraging: people can drop into the background in the bigger congregation, but in a smaller group they can be prayed for and loved in a practical way;
• More personal discipleship: we can hear a great message on a Sunday, but in a small group we can more easily apply it to life, ask the questions, and so on;
• Outreach: some of us find it easier than others to be a witness, but a small group can spur us on and we can reach out together – which is often much easier!

So expect to see more about small groups as time goes by! If you’re not in a group and you’re interested, then please email me.