God’s vision for His people is to become joy-filled, relationally connected, spiritually powerful, and mature disciples as we follow Jesus together.

In Acts 2:42-47, we see a picture of how Jesus intends for us to become these sorts of people: to open our Bibles, to pray and encourage each other, to serve and to share meals together. In short, he calls us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission.

This is why we do LifeGroups. It’s our best attempt to live out Jesus’ vision for our lives as laid out in Scripture, where we take what we learn on Sundays and apply it to our lives throughout the week with others.

So once a week, LifeGroups - generally made up of 6 - 20 people - gather together in homes for about two hours to open their Bibles and pray for and encourage one another. We hope that as individuals grow in their LifeGroup, their LifeGroup grows, too. And as their LifeGroup grows, their LifeGroup invites more people in with the hope that LifeGroups will eventually start new groups in our city.

So, if you’re interested in a LifeGroup, we’d encourage you to sign up!

A few things you might consider when looking for a LifeGroup:

• Location - Since LifeGroups aims to do life together, we highly recommend choosing a group close to where you live, preferably within a 5-minute drive of others in the LifeGroup. You can search our LifeGroups database here to see where LifeGroups meet.

• Kids - For families with kids, you can search here for LifeGroups with kids and their weekly childcare plans.

• Availability - LifeGroups meet on different days throughout the week. You can find out when groups meet here.

• Demographic - Regardless of your familiarity with the church, Jesus, age, relationship status, or season of life, all are welcome. That being said, if you prefer to be in a LifeGroup with people similar to you, you can search our LifeGroups database to find the best fit for you.

• Chemistry - While it’s unrealistic to expect you’ll become best friends with everyone in LifeGroup, we want to provide an environment where you can connect with others and grow friendships over time.

Everyone! Whether you’re a Christian or non-Christian, member or non-member, old or young, introvert or extrovert, single or married...you get the picture. We believe LifeGroups are the best place to experience who Jesus is no matter who you are, so we want everyone to join one.

LifeGroups generally last an hour and a half to two hours each week in homes. We open our Bibles and our lives to help each other walk more faithfully with Jesus. You can find out more on our What to Expect With Your LifeGroup page.

We value families in LifeGroups and believe kids are an advantage, not a hindrance, to following Jesus together in LifeGroups. Because of that, many groups have a plan in place, whether it be hiring babysitters each week, LifeGroup members rotating who watches kids, hosting family potlucks once a month, inviting kids into some parts of the LifeGroup conversation, or some hybrid of all of the above.

For more information, search here for LifeGroups with kids and their weekly childcare plans.

If you’re brand new to following Jesus or being in biblical community, you have the freedom to take your time with it. Sign up for a group. Get involved with what they do throughout the week. If after a month you’re still on the fence or interested in finding another LifeGroup that might be a better fit, you can look into another LifeGroup here or contact our LifeGroups Team coordinator.

We hope that everyone in Columbia would be within a 5-minute drive of a LifeGroup. Because of that, we plant new groups in new areas to reach new people. Check out these videos below to see how LifeGroups celebrate planting new groups by throwing what we call “Gospel Goodbye Parties.”