Advent Small Groups
POST BY MATT MCCOY
3 minute read
The question we’re inviting you to ask is a continuation of our recently completed series on Ruth, and gives us an opportunity to live out those themes in our neighborhoods:
Who is the Spirit inviting you to walk through Advent and Christmas with?
Here’s how this works. On the one hand, our lives have other people in them. Some are closer friends than others, some are more uncommon than others. We put a list of people, just to get your imagination started:
On the other hand, we have all these spiritual practices we’ve been exploring, and some of us might even have some advent traditions already. We put a list of practices together, just to get your imagination started:
Combine the one hand with the other hand, and you’ve got an Advent Small Group. Instead of having a big group gathering discipleship group like Heading North, we thought it would be fun to help you live out the themes of Advent and Christmas with the people who are already in your lives.
The commitments are pretty simple:
Commit to a simple practice to enter into through Advent and Christmas, so from 29 November - 6 January
Commit to meeting weekly or bi-weekly with your Advent Small Group to see how your practice is going, notice what God is doing in your midst, and encourage each other.
Feel free to come to the Advent Small Group kickoff night on Thursday 19 November, the Nearly Halfway Check-In night on 17 December, and the Wrap up Celebration Night on Thursday 7 January.
An Example:
I’ll be in an Advent Small Group with the guys from the Lighthouse Mission and anyone who might want to join us. We’ll likely choose a simple daily prayer that we will pray together at 6:30pm everyday (but not in person or over zoom, we’ll just pray wherever we happen to be at that time). We’ll get together and check in a few times during Advent and Christmas, and we’ll show up to the Nearly Halfway Check-In Night on 17 December and the Wrap Up Celebration Night on 7 January and share what the Spirit is doing in our midst.
Another Example:
I’ve heard of one family with adult children, all living in different parts of the world, and they're going to join by Zoom, decide what spiritual practice to follow, and when to meet.
A Third Example:
I’ve heard of someone who wants to connect with co-workers, and light advent candles together after work once a week.
And if leading a group isn’t your thing:
Feel free to let me or Jessie know if you’d rather be placed in an existing Advent Small Group, rather than starting your own!