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<h1>Life Groups</h1>
<p>(1/12/2012 - updated to reflect our revised <a href="../about_lcb/vision_mission.html">vision,
mission, and core values</a>)<br />
(4/22/2012 - updated to include questions to
be answered by prospective life group leaders)</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="#cellchurch">What Is a Cell Church? </a></li>
<li><a href="#lifegroup">What Is a Life Group? </a></li>
<li><a href="#visitors">Visitors</a> </li>
<li><a href="#findagroup">Finding a Group</a></li>
<li><a href="#leadagroup">Leading a Group </a></li>
<li><a href="lifegroups_meeting.html">Life Group Meetings</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="cellchurch" id="cellchurch"></a>What is a cell church? </h2>
<p>Life Church is a cell church. In cell churches, in addition to meeting on
Sundays, the congregation meets in small groups called cells during the
week. At Life Church we call these <em>life
groups</em>.</p>
<h2><a name="lifegroup" id="lifegroup"></a>What is a life group? </h2>
<p> A life group is a group of 3 - 15 believers who come together for fellowship,
accountability, support, and outreach. The group members meet regularly, both
formally and informally throughout the week. Our life groups are
an extremely important part of the way we carry out our <a href="../about_lcb/mission.html">mission</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>Life groups provide members with a safe setting in which they can learn
to enjoy knowing Jesus without fear, inadequacy, guilt, or shame.</li>
<li>Life groups give members an opportunity to become a family
as they follow Jesus.</li>
<li>Life group members learn how to function together as Jesus' body by making
their gifts available to one another.</li>
<li>Life group members learn to work together to expand Jesus' kingdom by reaching
out to the unchurched.</li>
</ol>
<h2>What are life groups like?</h2>
<p>We support various types of life groups:</p>
<ul>
<li>Holistic Life Groups
<ul>
<li>Affinity Life Groups</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Topical Life Groups</li>
<li>Bible Study Life Groups</li>
<li>Seeker-oriented Life Groups</li>
</ul>
<h3>Holistic Life Groups</h3>
<p>Holistic life groups ensure that they deal with the whole person every
time that they meet. They care for the emotional, relational, spiritual and
ministerial needs of every participant. During the meeting the life group members
seek to express Jesus Christ as members of his body.<br />
<br />
These groups normally have no set end date, but they may take regularly scheduled
breaks (e.g. summer vacation). They continue to meet on an ongoing basis and
evolve as new participants join the group and the group eventually multiplies
in order to maintain an intimate environment for it's members.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Affinity Life Groups<br />
</strong>Affinity life groups are holistic life
groups whose members are involved in some other common activity or ministry
(e.g. Worship Team, Children's Church, etc.).<br />
</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Topical Life Groups</h3>
<p>These are groups that are organized to allow participants to explore some
biblical topic in a focused way. They will normally have a limited duration
(e.g. 1 - 6 months).</p>
<h3>Bible Study Life Groups</h3>
<p>These are groups that are organized to allow participants to do in-depth
bible study. They will normally have a limited duration (e.g. 1 - 6 months).</p>
<h3>Seeker-oriented Life Groups</h3>
<p>These are groups that are organized to allow unchurched people to explore
Jesus and Christianity in a "safe", low-pressure environment. They
will normally have a limited duration (e.g. 1 - 6 months).</p>
<h2>What else should I know about life groups?</h2>
<h3>Group Membership</h3>
<p>Life groups may be single gender or mixed. They may comprise people from a
common background (e.g. students, police, teachers, people in recovery, people
in a particular neighborhood, etc.) or people from diverse backgrounds.<br />
</p>
<p>Groups will normally be open to new members but they may be closed for a limited
amount of time (this will normally not exceed one year).</p>
<p><strong>We strongly encourage everyone at Life Church to get involved in a
life group but we strongly discourage anyone from being involved in more
than one life group at a time!</strong></p>
<h3>Meeting Schedule</h3>
<p>Most groups will have a weekly formal meeting that lasts about 90 minutes.
Some groups may choose to meet less frequently (e.g. every other week,
once a month, etc.).</p>
<h3>Meeting Location</h3>
<p>Some groups will meet in the homes of one or more of the members. Other
groups may meet in a public place (e.g. Starbucks, a food court, etc.).
A few groups may even have most of their meetings via conference call (especially
for prayer).</p>
<h3>Group Duration</h3>
<p>Some groups will be ongoing with no set end date. Others will meet for
a limited amount of time (e.g. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc.).</p>
<h2><a name="visitors" id="visitors"></a>Visitors</h2>
<p>Visiting a life group is a
good way to get to know us better and find out if Life Church is the right
church for you.<a href="http://lists.lifechurchministries.org/listinfo.cgi/inspiration-lifechurchministries.org"></a> We
hope that you'll want to come back! We normally don't place any particular
limit on how often you can visit an open group, but there are some exceptions:</p>
<ul>
<li> If you are a member of another congregation, we will generally ask you to
stop visiting after a month's time. This is because participating in our life
groups places you under our pastoral care and this is not appropriate for someone
who is already being pastored elsewhere.</li>
<li> If you are unable to submit to the group's leadership in the conduct of its meetings, we will ask you to stop participating.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="findagroup" id="findagroup"></a>Finding a Group </h2>
<p>You can find a group to visit by:</p>
<ul>
<!-- <li>Using our <a href="https://lifechurch.ccbchurch.com/app/w_group_list.php" target="_blank" class="link_external">find
a life group</a> link to look up a group online. </li> -->
<li><a href="../sunday_meetings/sundays_meetings.html">Visiting our Sunday service</a> and
asking to speak with one of our life group leaders.</li>
<li><a href="../contact.html">Contacting us</a> by phone or email to request
a visit.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="leadagroup" id="leadagroup"></a>Leading a Life Group</h2>
<p>Leading a life group is a privilege and a wonderful
way to serve the Lord. If you're interested in leading a group speak to one
of the members of the <a href="http://www.lifechurchboston.org/about_lcb/staff.php">Leadership
Team</a>. They will be able to assess your readiness and guide you towards
any training or other preparation that you may need. All life group leaders
are supervised by a member of the Leadership Team.</p>
<p>Before you start leading a life group someone from the Leadership Team will
discuss the following questions with you and ask you to write out your answers:</p>
<ul>
<li>What do you want to do (i.e. what type of group do you want to lead)?</li>
<li>What timeframe do you have in mind (i.e. how long will the group run)?</li>
<li>How will it work (i.e. how will the group be run)?</li>
<li>What is your mental model or theory of ministry (i.e. how does what you
do in ministry produce results)?</li>
<li>What has God said to you about this?</li>
<li>How does your proposed activity advance our <a href="../about_lcb/vision_mission.html">vision
and mission</a>?</li>
<li>How does your proposed activity reflect our <a href="http://www.lifechurchboston.org/about_lcb/core_values.html">core
values</a>?</li>
</ul>
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<p align="center">Life Church Boston is a Christian church focusing on discipleship, cell ministry (small groups), and relational evangelism.<br />
Founded 2003 • Rocklyn Clarke Sr. & Eva Clarke, founding pastors.<br />
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