Life Groups

CURRENT LIFE GROUPS

To join a Life Group contact us. 

    • Mountain View – Saturdays (1st and 3rd) 7pm – Life Group
       This group is currently focused on worship, prayer, and prophecy and discuss a book of the New Testament.
    • Fridays 7pm LIFT Life Group and Sunday Service at 11am 
      The LIFT fellowship is the English-speaking group from the Korean World Mission Baptist Church in Campbell.

LIFE GROUPS

Everyone benefits from community and belonging! We gather in small fellowships to be known, cared for, and equipped as individual disciples of Christ. Our Family Groups meet weekly to share what God is doing in our lives, use our spiritual gifts, and grow in learning and practicing the Bible together. A tangible time to “Love God and Love Others.”

The core life of the Church is in our Life Groups. All church leaders assist in leading a life group throughout the week; we consider this the primary way to “belong” to this church family. We meet weekly around San Jose, Campbell, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View in various homes.

A typical format for a night is:

  1. Welcome – an icebreaker question or this could be a time of sharing short praises of what God has been doing
  2. Worship – singing to God (this could be live musicians or iPod/CD worship), reading Psalms, poetry, praises, communion, or any other form of honoring Jesus. We may pick songs from this YouTube playlist .
  3. Word – we highly encourage each group to go through a chapter of the Bible in their meeting time (see the list below). The final question is not “what did I learn?” but “how will I apply to my life what I just read this upcoming week?”
  4. World – discuss and pray for the areas and people God has called each person to. This may include praying for each other, the city, a specific friend or co-worker, or discussing an outreach to do together

In the midst of this loose format, we seen broken hearts restored, emotional and physical pains healed, and hurts and oppression lift off of us. We also gain the heart of Love from the Father and speak words of encouragement to each other with spiritual gifts. Hebrews 10:24 tells us “to consider how to stir each other to love and good deeds”. We seek to discover the unique ways God has made each of us, and what He is calling us into, and Family Groups are one of the best ways to discover that.

 

 

 

 

LIFE GROUP MEETING RESOURCES

This page gives more definitions of what happens in a Life Group and also discusses communion, offering, and baptism as part of the Life Group.

Handouts:

Hosting – Hospitality in a home is a large part of Life Groups. Please have seating for 10-12; snacks are welcome but not required. The most important part is having a welcoming environment for both the Lord and the people. (This can be a rotated role.)

Welcome – We start each meeting with a non-threatening icebreaker question for each person to answer in a minute or less. An ice breaker is not required; many groups start with testimonies or a question like “What way did you see God intersect your life this week?”. We encourage everyone to come with short testimonies of what God has been doing. These testimonies should end with “Isn’t God great!” While the person may be in the story the main focus should be what God has been doing. (This can be a rotated role.) About 10-15 minutes.

Other possible ice-breaker questions:

  • how many siblings did you have growing up?
  • describe where you grew up
  • when was the last time you did something for the first time?
  • what did you see God doing in your life this week?

Worship – worship can be done on live instruments, CD player, iPod with external speaker, YouTube, or TV. Lyric handouts are nice but not necessary (many YouTube formats have the lyrics provided on screen.) Try to pick a few songs people know and may edify the whole group, not just a single person. (This can be a rotated role.) About 15-30 minutes.

Word – many times the group leader will facilitate the Bible discussion (but can be rotated among members comfortable doing this). The group should read the passage of Scripture out loud, please be sensitive to people with reading or language issues. The leader should lead a discussion through different portions of the passage and have some questions prepared. This is not a time for teaching or a monologue. The main focus is deeply absorbing and living out any truths we are reading. Any off-topic discussions can be saved until after group time. About 15-20 minutes.

Life Group leaders are not required to be Bible scholars or teachers; they are discussion leaders. Any questions the group cannot answer should be directed to the elders weekly (better to leave a question unanswered, than answered incorrectly/incompletely). Any book of the Bible is good for study, but for Life Groups we suggest any New Testament book except Revelations (Revelations 1-3 is good). Note some books are easier to discuss than others; Hebrews is difficult to study the entire book. We highly recommend that everyone be reading through their entire Bible regularly. If your group wants to do some other book of the Bible, please inform the elders first.

World – this time can start with a time to pray for each other in the group, then broaden to people we interact with, or the region and revival.  This time can have a different focus from week to week. This time can be done as a whole group or break into smaller teams. We rejoice with those who are rejoicing, mourn with those who mourn, and help bear each other burdens. We want to pray for one another to be filled up to overflowing to go and spill out into the world in which they live. There should be no heavy burden of works. This is a time to ask for more of the Holy Spirit, to give personal encouraging words and blessings. This can also be a planning time to do community outreaches, BBQs, or park days. About 10-20 minutes.

 

LIFE GROUP LEADER RESOURCES

Communion – (optional/occasional) This may be done in a Life Group. Someone will need to provide grape juice and bread. (We usually recommend non-alcoholic grape juice to support any people with sobriety issues or children present and the bread product can have yeast or be gluten-free; be sensitive to your group.) Please remind group members they need to be believers and be in a repentant state: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” I Cor 11:27-28. It can be helpful to read some of the verses from I Cor 11:23-26 as follows: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 

Offering – offerings should NOT be taken during Life Groups; many online, text-to-give, and mail options exist to contribute to the ministry. This includes giving to any charity or personal mission trip (please seek elder approval first.) Any persons with financial needs should be referred by the Life Group leaders to the elders of the church. Life Groups should NOT be a place of business solicitations or financial transactions, this includes referrals, home businesses, personal services, or other marketing.

Benevolence – we follow the Scriptural example in Acts where the resources were generously laid at the leaders’ feet and then redistributed to those in need with much wisdom. We view benevolence and financial support as a communal church effort and not an individual-to-individual transaction. Life Group leaders are asked to refer any financial needs or other needs to the church leadership team for consideration and not meet these needs personally. Anyone seeking substantial financial assistance will be asked about their Life Group attendance and current financial situation in-depth.

Baptism – after someone becomes a believer it is good for them to follow the Lord’s command in obedience and be baptized in water. A Life Group leader can baptize people as stated in Matt 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This will require a spa, pool, baptismal, beach, river, lake, or the like. The one to be baptized should be asked two questions:

1) “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on the cross, on the third day He rose from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins?”

2) “Do you through faith identify yourself as dying with Christ and being raised to a new life, and commit to following Him as Lord and Savior?”

Baptisms should be a time of public confession where friends and family are invited.

Baby Dedication – this is normally done in our large gatherings. We view baby dedication as something distinctly different than water baptism (water baptism is for an older individual who can make a choice for himself/herself to follow Jesus). This is a time for the parents and community to commit to raising the child in a Godly manner. If you want to see what we typically use as a baby dedication please refer to dedication 1 on this webpage. Please let us know if you want your baby dedicated.