Interested in a Community Group?

Our community groups at High View Church are gospel-communities. Gospel - because they’re centered on the gospel and involve Bible study. Community - because they’re personally invested and relationally networked.

The goal of gospel-community is to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Jesus AND to deepen connections within the Body of Christ so that we can truly live out the gospel among each other and, by extension, to our relational networks (family, friends, etc.).

To have gospel without “community” breeds intellectualism and stale relationships among believers. To have “community” without gospel neglects Biblical teaching and therefore harbors shallow relationships that neglect Christ’s work in people. By extension, over emphasis of either “gospel” or “community” cause churches to grow in an unhealthy manner while people are left confused about what the Church is supposed to be.

Basically, our community groups are BEING the church by participating in gospel community. Imagine a group of people who study Scripture together, pray for one another, and actually care and love each other. The natural outworking of this kind of group would involve caring for any physical needs of the group, assisting in spiritual matters, and representing Jesus to their relational network…that’s gospel-community.

Below is a description of certain aspects of Community Groups at High View Church:

• Affinity/Life-Stage Based: Because people tend to develop deep relationships with people who are in or close to their same season of life, we thought it important to form our groups around affinity or life-stage. That’s not to say that developing relationships with people outside of life-stage is not available, it just means that for Community Groups we form them with affinity or life-stage in mind. Also, it doesn’t mean that someone can’t join a group that isn’t their life stage. We want genuine relationships to be developed; so visiting groups to find a match is highly recommended.

• 6-week Session: We want our Community Groups to enjoy their time together; in our culture long-term commitment to a group is not very attractive. Instead, we want to limit the structured meeting of groups for sermon-based Bible study to 6 weeks so people can have time for vacation, family, or mission. Also, by limiting the sessions to 6 weeks, we are able to allow new people to visit many groups without a sense of being “stuck” in a group.

• Sermon-Based: A sermon-based curriculum for Community Groups allows people with no Bible knowledge to participate in discussions during the group. It also allows group leaders to not be consumed with group preparation. A concern is that the Sunday sermon will just be “re-preached” during the community group. We have decided to change the passage of Scripture that is studied during the Community Group while still keeping the topic of the Sunday sermon.

• Never Divided: Many modern models of small groups involve the importance of “splitting” the group once it gets to a certain size for the purpose of multiplication. We do not “split” our groups. Not only is this frustrating for the group, it is also damaging to the purpose of the community groups in building gospel-community. Instead, we want to allow groups to stay together as long as they want, and grow until they’re full.

• Easy to Try: Because finding a group that fits may be difficult, we want to make it as easy as possible to try different groups. Because everyone in the group wants each person to participate in gospel-community, the hope is that a person gets connected in a group that fits them. We don’t want anyone to feel forced into a group, because that does no one any good. Choose a group that fits.

• Group Size: By limiting the size of the groups, we are able to refrain from “overfilling” a group and therefore hindering the community dynamic. If deep genuine community is what we’re after, then a house crammed with 40 people won’t do. So for groups made up primarily of singles the maximum group size is 12 to 14 people. For groups made up primarily of couples the maximum group size is 7 to 8 couples.

• Roles: Each group must have a Host, a Leader, and an Apprentice. Host, someone to house the community group during the 10-week session. Leader, someone to facilitate discussion of the sermon-based curriculum and to lead the group. Apprentice, someone who is willing to become a leader of a new Community Group as the need arises.

• Annual Mission Project: As Community Groups develop gospel-community, the natural desire is to want to serve their community somehow. By encouraging our Community Groups to involve themselves in their community, we are able to personalize this mission service and allow the culture to benefit from this gospel-community.

• Quarterly Social Event: By requiring our Community Groups to plan one social event per quarter, we give the members of the group an opportunity to invite their relational network to a casual encounter with their Christian friends. This may be a starting point for many people to encounter the gospel and become Christians themselves.

• Inclusive Until Full: Taking the approach of “inclusive until full” means that people can join groups until they have reached their maximum. Once a group is full it is full. A person wanting to join a group must try an open group or be involved in helping start a new group.

• Spiritually Beneficial: Community Groups are the venue where people at High View Church grow the most spiritually. By being in gospel-community, a person is able to walk with fellow believers, grow in Scripture, be prayed for, and really BE the church.

Here are the necessary roles for every Community Group:

Host: Someone who will house a Community Group during the 6-week sermon-based Bible study. This person needs to be sacrificial in their service of the group, provide basic refreshments, and welcome people into their home.

Leader: Someone who will lead the Community Group. This person will facilitate discussion of the sermon-based Bible study, organize social and mission events, and lead the Community Group in gospel community.

Apprentice: Some who is a member of Community Group that is preparing to become a leader of a new Community Group. This person will lead the sermon-based Bible study one time during the 6-week session and prepare to start a new Community Group.