At Littleover Methodist Church we are committed to the principle of small groups. To use William Beckham's illustration, Church is like a bird, having two wings. The coming together of the whole church for worship, witness, fellowship, teaching etc. is one wing. The other is the dividing up of the larger fellowship into small groups. Each wing must be as important as the other if the bird is to fly.

Vision

In 1995 the Lord led us to spend time in prayer and consultation, looking for the vision that He had for our Housegroup Programme. At that time we had five housegroups but no meaningful or cohesive overall structure, and there was a need for something better. After some three months we were led to Ephesians 4:1-16, especially to v.11. There we read that God has put five gifts in the church "to prepare God's people for works of service, that the body of Christ might be built up....". This goal was exaclty in line with what we felt the purpose of housegroups should be, and so we focussed on the five gifts that God had placed in the church for this purpose. We felt that each one represented a feature of individual and corporate Christian life, and that we should try by every means possible to embrace these five principles as our mission statement. We did not believe that each of these five gifts should be present before anything could be done, but rather that we should embrace the principles they stand for, making those principles the five-fold foundation of our Programme. So, our vision is for

.....................................visionary leadership and spiritual gifts, (apostles: 2 Cor.12:12 )
.....................................prophetic gifts,(prophets)
.....................................outreach and personal witness, (evangelists)
.....................................caring and pastoring, (pastors)
.....................................bible teaching. (teachers)

Within our groups we aim to follow this vision by providing a caring, secure environment, sound Bible teaching, a place where the Gifts of the Spirit can operate, and a culture that supports and encourages personal evangelism. Within this vision each group has its own characteristics. Each member is called to find the group that suits them best, and then be committed to to the creation of a sense of community within that group, sharing in its life and making their own unique contribution.

Organisation

We have small friendly home based groups that meet on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. These groups come together for bible studies, prayer, social activities and mutual support. There are 8 groups to choose from. If you are not currently in a Housegroup, can we encourage you to join one. Talk to any of the leaders (listed below with meeting nights), you will receive a very warm welcome.

The Housegroup Leaders and meeting nights are, in no particular order:-

• Julian Pratt…………………… Wednesdays
• Graham Martin………………. Tuesdays
• Jack Newsham……………….. Wednesdays
• Gary and Fiona Dilley………... Tuesdays
• Jeff Green…………………….. Sundays
• Walter Lowndes………………. Tuesdays
• Brian Miller and Philippa Knott… Tuesdays
• Glen Baxter and Ruth Allen…… Mondays.

Most of the groups meet twice a month, with Walter Lowndes’ group meeting 3 times each month, Brian Miller’s and Philippa Knott’s group having a flexible routine according to circumstances, and Glen and Ruth’s group meeting most weeks.

We organise on the basis of three terms a year, January to Easter, Easter to early July, and September to the end of the year. We take a break from mid-July to September, and through the month of August we run one Housegroup only, for any who still want to meet.

Bible teaching

Our general aim is to have set teaching, prepared for one term at a time, which will be followed simultaneously by all the groups. We prepare some of our own material, for example Body of Christ and David.

Occasionally we will take a term without set teaching which gives each group the opportunity to tackle subjects that have particular interest or application to the group.