121 Stories - Building Relationships In LifeGroups
Examining The Importance Of Christian Life Groups.
Ann and Jim
Aug 13, 2020 3m
Have you felt isolated and lonely? These feelings have been especially common during the COVID pandemic. In this message of hope, one couple shares how they found fellowship and community in their Christian life groups. Video recorded at Grapevine, Texas.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Ann Bridgeman: 00:01 I'm Ann Bridgeman, and this is my husband, Jim, and we started a life group in the middle of COVID. When I was younger, and we had kids in church, we were really involved in teaching and all their activities. But once your kids are out of the house, you get pretty comfortable just doing your own thing, and it's very easy to just be a spectator and a consumer at church. Not only is that not good, but it's feels really empty very quickly, so we felt it was really important to get in the life group. And as we started contemplating that, we just felt like God was really calling us to start one around this concept of people who kids have flown the nest. Right around February, we found our first couple and we got excited that we were going to actually do this and have a life group, and then COVID hit. And we said, you know what, we have meetings all day long on Zoom, there's no reason we can't start a life group that way
Jim Bridgeman: 01:00 And starting a life group in the middle of COVID, and using Zoom, it was a little intimidating. We asked people what they really wanted to get out of life, and two things came out of it. Number one, is we're beginning COVID, and everybody was really angsting to have more time together. How do you do that? Well, we figured out we could do that through the Zoom. But we also, everybody also said we wanted to make sure this was going to have a strong biblical foundation, that this wasn't going to be just a community group, that it was going to be something more than that.
Ann Bridgeman: 01:28 So even with all the fun parts built in, what was really special is that we got to connect with other Christians in a time when we weren't seeing them in church every week, and we weren't able to do our normal things. So just connecting with them either virtually, or in person, and being able to talk the talk that we talk with each other, and tell about what God's been doing in our lives, has really been special and really hit the spot in a time where there really, really wasn't anywhere else to get that.
Jim Bridgeman: 01:59 After a few months of doing Zoom calls, we finally decided we were going to have our first face to face meeting with everybody. And we set up a lunch after church, it was bring your own lunch, it was set up in a park. As people sat down and started interacting, immediately we knew who everybody was, and we already had relationships built. It was really interesting.
Ann Bridgeman: 02:17 It kind of felt like a family reunion. Some may wonder what we're getting out of this now, and honestly, it's kind of too soon to tell. I feel like our group is still getting to know each other right now, we're building friendships, and we're getting to pray with other believers. And it's so great when we see each other in person, it's like it is, it's like a reunion. But I am excited to see where God takes this, I don't know exactly what this group is going to be for each other yet, but I know that God has a purpose and a plan for it. And all we have to do is just say yes, and I'm getting to just see how He works through this group, and it's wonderful.
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
Jim Bridgeman: 01:00 And starting a life group in the middle of COVID, and using Zoom, it was a little intimidating. We asked people what they really wanted to get out of life, and two things came out of it. Number one, is we're beginning COVID, and everybody was really angsting to have more time together. How do you do that? Well, we figured out we could do that through the Zoom. But we also, everybody also said we wanted to make sure this was going to have a strong biblical foundation, that this wasn't going to be just a community group, that it was going to be something more than that.
Ann Bridgeman: 01:28 So even with all the fun parts built in, what was really special is that we got to connect with other Christians in a time when we weren't seeing them in church every week, and we weren't able to do our normal things. So just connecting with them either virtually, or in person, and being able to talk the talk that we talk with each other, and tell about what God's been doing in our lives, has really been special and really hit the spot in a time where there really, really wasn't anywhere else to get that.
Jim Bridgeman: 01:59 After a few months of doing Zoom calls, we finally decided we were going to have our first face to face meeting with everybody. And we set up a lunch after church, it was bring your own lunch, it was set up in a park. As people sat down and started interacting, immediately we knew who everybody was, and we already had relationships built. It was really interesting.
Ann Bridgeman: 02:17 It kind of felt like a family reunion. Some may wonder what we're getting out of this now, and honestly, it's kind of too soon to tell. I feel like our group is still getting to know each other right now, we're building friendships, and we're getting to pray with other believers. And it's so great when we see each other in person, it's like it is, it's like a reunion. But I am excited to see where God takes this, I don't know exactly what this group is going to be for each other yet, but I know that God has a purpose and a plan for it. And all we have to do is just say yes, and I'm getting to just see how He works through this group, and it's wonderful.
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
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