Beginning Life Together: A Couples Small Group

photo by hallelujah.

Beginning in the first week of October, Tricia and I will be starting a brand new Small Group. This group of 3 to 8 couples (depending on how many are interested) will meet weekly for 6 weeks for about 2 hours to discover more about themselves, build deeper friendships, and most of all relax and have a good time together.

So here’s the scoop. The Rzepkowski’s: Kris, Tricia, Mason and Anna moved back to Rochester in 2005 after a 5 year stint in Chicago. Our life in Chicago began without kids, and without any relatives nearby. We found ourselves in search of a way to connect with others outside of our busy work schedules and make some new friends. We were barely Catholics at the time, but decided anyway that maybe Church was a way to fulfill our needs.

By chance, at one of those extremely awkward mixer/social gatherings we happened upon the most dynamic youth minister we had ever met. Jim Melton and his wife Kathy happened to be our same age and in nearly the same life situation as us. Very shortly thereafter, Jim proposed that we join them and some other couples in a Small Group. I didn’t even know what a Small Groups was, but I soon found it was exactly what I needed. Over two years these couples met and talked about faith, work, marriage, sports…whatever. The guys even shared – something I surely wasn’t used to.

Now, Small Groups were not something I was familiar with as a Catholic. But, I finally had found what was missing from church all along; community, friendship, challenging each other to grow. We grew so much in fact that we moved from the Catholic church to Community Christian Church where there was amazing worship music (most of which we heard on the radio all the time), and ministers who brought relevant messages to us instead of ritual.

Fast forward to today. Tricia and I now know that Small Groups are a great way to build lasting friendships in our new (old) home of Rochester. We belong to Browncroft Community Church and try hard to lead a Christian life to the limited extent that we understand what that means. I have never led a Small Group before, but I felt God call me to do so. I also have so many questions about life, love, faith that I’m just dying to get them answered with the help of friends.

OK, enough of my story. There will be plenty of time to share.

What is a Small Group?
Simple. A weekly meeting at our house where we will facilitate a meaningful discussion of life.

Do I need to be Christian, go to your church, or even attend church regularly?
Nope. Everyone’s Walk is totally different. You don’t need to belong to Browncroft Community Christian either. Just come because you’d rather spend more time with other humans than you do with your DVR.

Is this a Bible study? What will we be doing?
We will be doing a DVD based Small Group program called “Beginning Life Together”. It follows the principles of the best selling book “A Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. There is more info about the content of the study, including a video preview on the website lifetogether.com. There is a study guide that each couple will purchase for $8 which will help lead our exploration. There won’t be any homework. You’ll come watch the DVD, chat, snack, and go home. In my mind, this really isn’t “Bible Study”. That’s way too hard-core for me

When will this be?
Wednesday evenings from 7:30-9:30. The first meeting will be October 3rd.

What about childcare?
The Small Group should be uninterrupted by kids. We would therefore hope that you could arrange babysitting. However if childcare is the one thing that is preventing you from joining us, let’s work as a group to come up with a solution. Some options include:

1. Group members with kids could bring them to our house. One of the parents would skip the Small Group on a rotation every week to watch all of the children.
2. All parents pitch in on a sitter
   There’s other ideas, but we can work together to figure it out.

I’m really looking forward to building a group that everyone points to as a great part of their life.