SMALL GROUP MINISTRY SIGN-UP

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Seeking a deeper sense of connection, community, and belonging?
SIGN UP FOR SMALL GROUP MINISTRY

Feeling connected and having a sense of community is an essential part of being human. Whether you are new to Emerson or a long-time member, one of best the ways to get connected in this congregation is joining one of our small group ministries. These groups of about 6-10 people each, commit to meet once or twice a month, at church or in one another’s homes, to explore monthly themes over the course of a year.

Small Group Ministry helps create a vibrant and vital religious community through

  • Worship:  Worship is central to the life of our congregation. Small Group Ministry is intended not to replace, but to augment and strengthen that shared experience.
  • Community:  Ministry Groups meet the need for connection and intimacy that is both a deep hunger in our society and essential to the ongoing life of a religious community.
  • Learning:  People come to the church seeking spiritual growth, seeking to know themselves better, to grow into their understanding of the world and to ponder the age-old questions of faith; how to live, what to believe, how to act, what meanings we can decipher from the mystery of life.
  • Service:  A life of faith is a life of service.  As human beings, we seek to be of use and a healthy congregation needs to provide avenues through which we may serve. Each group agrees to take on some kind of service in the church and another in the community.​

This past year our Small Group Ministries started using the “Soul Matters” program, where each month the small groups all explore the same spiritual theme. There is a lot of richness in those monthly themes, which participants can engage with their group and their daily lives through reflection and spiritual practices related to the theme. What’s great about Soul Matters is that the monthly themes are integrated into other aspects of church life, including worship services, and our religious education classes—so the whole congregation is exploring the same theme in different ways and from different perspectives.

Small group ministry participants also have access to a monthly packet, which includes spiritual exercises, questions that encourage reflection on daily living, and provocative resources that help members see the “old themes” in a new light. And if you want to explore further, you can check out the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/soulmatterssharingcircle/

We want to get an early start for the September kickoff of for the 2017-18 Small Group Ministries, by encouraging all those who might be interested in learning more about small groups to complete a SGM registration form which will be available at the Welcome Desk on Sundays. If you have questions about registering you can talk to Rev. Matthew, Karen Rose karenrose1200@yahoo.com or Renée Lançon reneelancon@aol.com . And truly, if you want to know more about small groups, you can talk to any of the dozens of people who have been in a group and you will hear many reasons why it is so enjoyable and rewarding!