April is Small Group Emphasis Month

We're celebrating small groups throughout April at Richland Creek! If you have come to the Creek for awhile and haven't plugged into a group, or if you are brand new and want to know the best way to form relationships and get connected to Creek life, then small groups are for you. 

In a culture filled with a staunch individualism - where the icon is the Lone Ranger, the mantra is "make it on your own," the ideal is the "self-made man" (or woman) - the idea of purposefully becoming a part of a community seems, at best, a quaint leftover or, at worst, a waste of time.

Yet, we were designed to be in community. The very nature of the Trinity and image of God we bear fundamentally makes us people of relationships. Some relationships we have are fruitful, some destructive. Whatever the relationship, it is tainted by sin and requires a transformation according to God’s word by way of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Small groups at Richland Creek will be places of redemptive witness, where everyone is welcome. There are three biblical pillars to our small group ministry that help define who we are and what we do.

Gospel Community

Gospel Community is the basic foundation of our groups. We need the church and the church needs us. As the Creek grows larger we must effectively grow smaller at the same time. Christianity is lived in relationship and our part in the body is vital for our growth in Christ. There is no such thing as a lone ranger Christian.

Transformational Teaching

Our focus in the second pillar is on why and what is expected as we learn the Word of God together in community. From doubt to belief, from lost to mature, the Bible is the authority on which we base our lives, families, small groups, and church. We must seek transformation, not just information! We will help each other see the Word of God not as something they apply to their lives; rather, they are to apply their lives to Scripture.

Intentional Outreach

Every believer is part of God’s mission. We talk a lot about evangelism and missions, and rightly so. "Intentional" means we engage with focus, prayer and purpose in the task of reaching others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our groups are to be Great Commission small groups bent on preparing our people to understand and effectively live as believers sent by God to this world.

These three values - Gospel Community, Transformational Teaching, and Intentional Outreach - cannot individually stand alone. They are each vital for an effective small group to connect and mature people for the advancement of the gospel. They overlap and complement each other, yet cannot be effective on their own.

Join us as we explore what it means to be a community saturated with the Gospel, filled with the Spirit, with the purpose of making Jesus Christ famous throughout the earth!