by Marie Fritzberg

It’s that time of year once again. Students purchase supplies and anticipate a new school year. Soccer fields are filled with players warming up as they begin a new season. We move from relaxed summer days back to our normal routines, sometimes creating new ones in the process. With this new season, could God be calling you to join or start a small group?

About six years ago, in the Fall, Dianne Ross invited me and a handful of other women to be a part of a Bible study group that would meet weekly to study, share our lives and pray for each other. I knew a couple of the women well, some not at all, some only superficially. Through the course of that year we learned a lot about ways we cover up what is true about ourselves and how God wanted to move us to more soft and transparent lives.

This group has continued to meet, with some members leaving for various reasons and others joining in. There have been bumps along the way when we have needed to talk through difficult things. I have found it valuable to have a regular place to be reminded of God’s love for me and to spur me on to follow Him more closely.

I feel known in this group.

Another group has just started up this summer. Janet and Doug Moore participated in the Dynamis class this spring and felt like the next step was to be a part of a group that met regularly to study scripture and support one another. Janet had talked with another woman who was eager to start a group and a little frustrated that the process of joining one was taking longer than she had hoped. This motivated them to begin the process of forming a group themselves. “Sometimes you just have to put some energy into starting,” Janet expressed.

She contacted the GLACE team and contacted several people who had been seeking to join a group. Now there are about seven people gathering twice a month---a new group!

Starting a group can be an organic process (gathering intentionally with people you know through friendships, a class or an experience) or through an openness to join together with those previously unknown to you.

If you are sensing that you’d like to be in a group, this might be the time for you to take that step. Pray about how this might begin for you, look around you to see if others you know are interested too, and let the GLACE team know how we can help. Contact Marie Fritzberg, Group Life elder at fritzbergs@
comcast.net.