Coronavirus Update
While we are not meeting in our normal patterns at this time, our small groups are still functioning. If you need assistance, are sick, are lonely, contact your small group leader. Our small groups are eager to help. We can chat and pray with you over the phone. We can run errands for you. We can shop for you. We can provide meals. Let us know your needs and we will help. (If you are not in a small group, find the small group that is closest to where you live and consider that group to be your group; consider the leaders of that group to be your small group leaders.) If you need a visit from a pastor, each small group has a priest assigned to it and your small group leader can help connect you, or you can email us at church@theincarnation.org.
We encourage every group to continue to relationally engage and meet virtually each week during this season. This is a great time for you to assist your "technologically-challenged" small group members, as you use one of the great virtual meeting platforms out there!
Small Groups at Incarnation
We seek to live out what happens in our worship on Sunday morning. This means that we are committed to building a strong and vibrant culture that flows out our experience of the life of God. God is not an impersonal force, but a community of persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who have loved each other for all eternity. Since we are made in the image of God, part of what it means to be human is to be created in and for community. Simply put, you cannot be truly human or truly yourself apart from loving relationships with other people. For this reason, we have organized our church into geographically focused groups of families and individuals.
What is a Small Group?
Each of our small groups seek to be a place where people can experience significant, substantial, encouraging friendships. While each small group is different, having its own personality, we have 5 actions that make a Small Group:
1. We Read the Bible Together
Jesus said, "These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these into your life, you are a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock." Matthew 7:24, The Message)
2. We Pray Together
We believe God acts differently when we pray then when we don't. When we pray together, not only does God hear and answer us, he strengthens our relationships with each other.
3. We Share Together
Eating and drinking together knits our hearts together in the same way that Jesus and his disciples experienced. As we share what's happening in our lives we are able to enter into the joy and hope that community offers.
4. We Serve One Another
The extravagant generosity of Jesus Christ toward us compels us to be generous in our service to one another. Small Groups are the front lines of care for our church. A phone call and prayer, a pot of sou, an afternoon cleaning someone's house, watching their kids, running errands -- these are practical ways that we live our our Christian faith and how we experience the Risen Lord.
5. We Reach Out to our Neighbors Together
If our Christian faith does not translate into loving and blessing our neighbors and city, then something is terribly wrong. We encourage our small groups to think like missionaries. Since each group is rooted in its place, this will look differently for each one. But, this will typically involve, direct or personal evangelism, neighborhood parties, caring for those who are weak or vulnerable and forming strategic partnerships with community organizations that are working to improve our community and serve "the least of these"
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