What are Life Groups For?
On 23 July 2022, 37 members from HVMC gathered at the YWCA in Fort Canning, to discuss just that, and to envision how Life Groups (LGs) could be powered as an instrument to galvanize our Church’s mission to nourish, flourish and reach out. Eugel and Eunice Yeo opened the session with songs of worship, and Pastor Loretta Lim led us all in a time of contemplative prayer and Scripture reading, inviting us to offer our loaves and fishes to God.
In his opening address, Pastor Jeremy Ong reminded us of the crucial role LGs played in the Methodist tradition in the days of John Wesley. This also reflected Jesus’ modus operandi - how He cultivated and nurtured disciples, who then poured into the lives of others. Exploring the state of one’s soul with God, deep enquiry into the heart and character of the member, were key sharing points during these sessions. LGs were the root from which the Methodist body sprung up and branched out. It was sobering to understand how much of the church was at stake, should these vital nuclei of the church be ignored. It was invigorating to be reminded to reclaim LGs as a means to reviving our souls and transforming our hearts and that of the community.
We explored the responses participants made to two questions: “What are Life Groups for?” and “What are current gaps in your area?” The responses to the former were summarized into worship, welcome, warmth, witness, and the Word. Gaps identified include dealing with challenging members, the need to feel safe, the size of the groups and the difficulty in resuming physical meetings after COVID.
Reverend Dr Keith Lai delivered the plenary session. He reminded us that LGs were foundational in pursuing the Great Commission. Four phases of disciple-making were identified as follows:
Come and see
Follow me
Be within me
Remain in me (for a lifetime)
Some challenges we identified included the fact that certain members could remain at the early stages for decades. He emphasized the importance of not letting other activities, even good ones such as bible study, obscure the purpose of the LG, which was to make disciples, who would then become disciple-makers.
At the end of the conference, we were all inspired and energized with a new fire burning in us to reclaim LGs for the sake of the church, for the world and for the Great Commission.
Michelle Ting
