Engage with Others 

 

We just don’t want Fraser Coast Baptist Church to be a place to attend each Sunday but more so a home to belong. Welcome to Level 4: Engaging with Others. This is all about connecting with other believers on a regular basis at a home, a coffee shop, restaurant or even a park and this is how we aim to make FCBC a home for you, rather than just a place to attend each week. As the saying goes, circles are better than rows! If you’re not sure what that means, gathering in circles at homes and other places is much more powerful than only gathering in rows on a Sunday. Why? Because this journey we are walking towards maturing our faith in Christ is hard to do it alone – actually it’s virtually impossible. We need each other and that is hopeless to accomplish only in 90 minutes a week on Sunday.

So, we applaud you for taking this next step of faith or even considering it. The benefits of joining a small group, or what we like to call a PAL group (with the acronym reflecting our values), are numerous. Firstly, it provides accountability. Being a part of a small group of believers who meet on a regular basis ensures that someone notices when you don’t show up. It means that someone is asking follow up questions to what’s going on in your life. It is this healthy accountability that challenges us towards personal and spiritual growth in a way that the attendance on Sunday simply does not.

Secondly, it provides belonging. It’s hard to feel a strong sense of belonging when you’re one person in a crowd on Sunday morning. But a group of people circled up in someone’s living room or around a table at a coffee shop? That’s where our attendees move from being Sunday morning consumers to participants in the life and mission of our church. It’s where everyone feels included – regardless of their beliefs, doubts or experiences.

Finally, it provides care. Every Sunday people show up carrying burdens that can’t be seen from the outside. And the systematic experience of Sunday morning doesn’t leave a lot of room for relational ministry. Our small groups are our one place where our group members can share authentically and allow group members to walk alongside one another through good and tough times

So, join a PAL group today – it’s never too late! 

 

Join a PAL group

We have an array of different life groups in our congregation – some that are open where anyone is welcome and others that are closed or invite-only. If you are relatively new to the church, we encourage you to sign-up for our Women’s Friendship group, who meet on a Wednesday morning in a private home. The other option is our Thursday morning group, who meet at the church. If you are a person that works during both those times, we encourage you to reach out via the Contact Us page and send a message, expressing your desire to join a small group.

 

Host a PAL group

We are always in favour of people stepping up and providing a place to meet on a regular basis. This is where hosting a life group comes into play. As a life group host, you would be responsible for hosting a life group at your place or organising a place to meet, providing the hospitality needed to cater for the attendees and helping everyone feel welcome. A powerful way to help everyone feel welcome is by allowing all participants the opportunity to share. Sometimes that is easier said than done but it really depends on the personalities of the people in your group. We usually recommend a group be around 3-6 people. Any more and the opportunity for everyone to share diminishes greatly.
 
One of the hesitations people have with hosting is the study or topic of discussion the group will go through each week. Fortunately, Fraser Coast Baptist Church has access to a vast array of options through an online platform called Rightnow Media. People call this resource the Netflix of bible studies and we encourage our congregation to utilise this resource not just in small groups but even within their personal study.
 
Please speak with the leadership if hosting a small group is something you believe God is leading you to do.
 
 

Coordinate PAL groups

We’re not there yet but we’re believing this church will grow. We know it can only grow if small groups increase and when they do, it’s going to require someone to put up their hand and coordinate PAL groups. Could this be you? Stay tuned for progress in this area as Fraser Coast Baptist Church is excited to see what this position holds.
 
 

Join the CARE Team

Our CARE Team is a group of people that have a heart for people. They’re our Pastoral Care team and they do a number of things each week to care for our congregation from wishing people a happy birthday to visiting ones in hospital. We encourage you to join our CARE team if this is a gift God has given you to edify the church.
 
 

Fellowship Lunch

One easy way to engage with others during our Fellowship Lunch, which we hold once a month on the third Sunday, starting in March and ending in November. What better way to get to know one another than over a meal? People come with a dish or two (main & dessert) to share and we have a “pot luck” lunch together as we seek to get to know one another better.
 
 

Heart Sisters & Soul Brothers

This is a ministry to make fulfilling the 50-odd “one anothers” in Scripture that we are instructed to do. Sometimes being part of a small group is an impossible task for someone, which could be due to a number of factors, the biggest one probably being their work schedule. Heart Sisters & Soul Brothers exists to allow anyone and everyone to “love one another” and not be overwhelmed by it. What if you only have the capacity to love just one person in the congregation?
 
The way HS & SB works is that when you sign up to this ministry, you are anonymously assigned one person of the same gender to be your buddy, whom you are responsible for praying for, encouraging, supporting…whatever the Lord leads you to do. The idea is to keep your anonymity throughout the year till around Christmas time where we hold a reveal party to see who our buddy was the whole year.
 
Sign-up for HS & SB occurs at the beginning of the year, the week after our Vision Sunday & Church Anniversary (always the last Sunday in January); however, new people are invited to sign-up whenever they’d like. We encourage you to speak to Judith Finden if you wish to sign-up to be part of this ministry or use the Contact Us tab to send her a message.