Our discipleship commission met this week and much of our conversation centred on life-changing small groups. All of us in the meeting had experiences to share of learning and growing and being cared for in these amazing little communities that for centuries have been the engine of growth and maturity in the Church.

We recognised that there are barriers however to joining a group, especially if you are new to the church. Super-determined and outgoing types are able to track down our group pamphlet, pick a name off that list and get involved. But for many of us, that's too hard (and to be honest, we are still a bit reluctant since the pandemic to take the initiative and connect with others). So, what we're planning to do is make the groups far more visible by putting up details of different groups on the advert slides each week before the service and inviting group members to share regularly in the services so that you have names and faces of people you can approach if you are keen to connect. I hope you do - there is no more effective way to grow as a disciple of Jesus.

Also, in our meeting we looked at a fantastic congregational course that we will be running in Lent next year (from early March). The course will be offered in a morning and evening version at the church as well as in homes. We'll let you know more in the coming months, but we'd love to see as many as possible joining in.