Growing in faith with others
God created us to be in relationship with others. Taking the opportunity to explore our faith with others, is often a source of growth.
There are many resources that can help us with this.
- Firepit Leaflet – offers a simple structure that can be used repeatedly with groups of all ages – Gather, Share, Pray, Commit.
- Everyday Faith Everywhere Leaflet for groups – explores how we can live out our faith in our conversations and actions, undergirded with prayer and Bible reading. It can be used as a five-week course.
- Encouraging One Another in Everyday Faith – is based on a Cursillo approach and is for groups of three or four to support each other living out their faith, using the Five Marks of Mission as a benchmark for reflection.
Small groups
Small groups can be called many different things. They typically meet outside of the main service times and often in someone’s home. They would usually contain between 6 and 12 people and are often led by a member of the congregation or a lay leader.
They exist to help people connect with other Christians and grow in faith together. Small groups take different shapes and formats, but in essence, they offer a space to worship, explore the Bible, pray and share life together. Some groups might meet weekly, others fortnightly and some monthly, but a regular rhythm is helpful for building relationships and going deeper in faith together.
Here are some suggestions of great small group resources and materials:
Church of England
- Everyday Witness – is produced by the Church of England. It's a ten-week course focusing on evangelism and can be used in tandem with a 50-day series of daily reflections which allows individuals to explore what it means to be a witness and to share faith.
- *Difference – difference is a free five-session course exploring following Jesus in a conflicted world.
LICC
- Growing on the Frontline – an eight-session small group course from LICC that helps people to become more Christ-like within their everyday contexts, with the aim of transforming the places we live and the people we love, and to enable us to live authentically for Jesus.
- Fruitfulness on the Frontline – a six-session small group course from LICC that enables people to notice God at work in and through their lives and encourages them to become workers for God in their everyday context.
- *6M People – a six-session small group resource that explores how God invites us to work with him for the good of the world.
Bible Society
- The Bible Course – an eight-part course which looks at the whole story of the Bible and is available for individual and small group use.
- *The Bible Series – a seven-part journey through the big story of the Bible for your whole church.
- Good News Bible - Family edition – The GNB Family Edition is an award-winning Bible with a unique design and hundreds of engaging and interactive elements to help families dig into Scripture together.
24/7 Prayer
- *The Prayer Course – The Prayer Course is an eight-week journey through the Lord's Prayer
- *Unanswered Prayer Course – The Prayer Course II: Unanswered Prayer is an opportunity to process life's most painful questions
- *The Lectio Course – The Lectio Course is a free small group resource from 24-7 Prayer which will equip you and your community to grow in prayer, discern God’s voice and fall in love with the Bible.
- *The Origins Youth Prayer Course – The Origins course is a free prayer course to help 11- to 16-year-olds explore prayer, and learn how to pray.
Other suggested resources
- BRF Holy Habits – Holy Habits is an adventure in Christian discipleship based upon Luke’s picture of the early church in Acts 2:42-47. It explores and encourages the practice of ten disciplines, or holy habits: biblical teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer, sharing resources, serving, eating together, gladness and generosity, worship and making more disciples.
- Making Disciples – Making Disciples is a way of talking about discipleship and spiritual formation for individuals, small groups and churches. An insightful seven-week course, unpacks the user's strengths and gifts and ultimately helps people grow and develop as disciples of Jesus.
- Being With – The Being With Course is an invitation to invest in becoming the type of person who knows how to be with yourself, others, the world around us and through this to be with God. It is an invitation to discover faith in the context of discovering friendship.
- Discipleship Explored – an 8 session course that helps followers of Jesus turn up the gospel soundtrack to their lives. It follows through Paul’s letter to the Philippians using documentary-style films and inspiring real-life stories from around the world.
- *Faith Pictures – Faith Pictures is six sessions that help Christians to see where God has been present in their lives, how they can talk about that confidently, and how God is active in the world around us and wants us to join in with Him.
- Talking Jesus – a course to train Christians to share their faith through six video sessions and a coursebook.
- The Pilgrim Course – a suite of resources that encourages participants to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer.
- *Practicing the Way – a way to integrate spiritual formation into your church of group. Choose from a range of spiritual disciplines and use in a range of settings, including small groups.
- *Growing Good – - The Growing Good Toolkit is a free six session course helping churches explore the connection between social action, discipleship and growth.
*indicates free resource
Who to contact
For further support, contact your archdeaconry Go Team adviser for Growing Faith and Everyday Faith.