It's so good to have you guys joining us here today for Trinity Talks.
You are the first Trinity Talks of 2024.
Maybe we'll also have you be the last one or something.
Maybe we'll bookend you in 2024.
I don't know.
So we've got three...
See if we're...
Exactly.
See if we have a good thing going here.
I think that we will because I've just heard a little bit about your life group.
And you three are all part of a life group.
And I was hoping we could just chat about that today and learn a little bit about what
it's like in your group, what the benefits are of the group that you see, maybe some
changes and as well what your hopes are for life groups at Trinity.
But I'd love to have you guys introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about maybe your
experience here at the church.
Bob and I are married and we've been coming here for about 18 years to Trinity and enjoying
it and being part of our life group for longer than that.
But that's another story.
So your life group has been going on before your time here at Trinity.
So you're Liz, right?
I'm Liz.
Yes.
Liz is right.
The life group started in another church in Oakville.
And there's still three families that are with us from back in those days, which is
about, I don't know, maybe 25 years ago, who are still in our life group.
And we're still meeting on Thursday night.
That is actually pretty incredible.
I don't know if we would have another group in our church that has had that longevity
and that consistency.
Maybe if you are in a life group that is longer than this group, which we're going to get
more into, maybe you can contact us and let us know.
But why don't you introduce yourself?
So I'm Rob, and we started at St. Hilda's in a group.
And St. Hilda's was a church that was fully life group.
It was every member of the church belonged to a small group.
And so when we joined that church, we were assigned a group to go to.
And they all met on Thursday night.
So our group is still meeting on Thursday nights.
We've never broken the tradition.
That's amazing.
Keeping the Thursdays going.
Yes.
And you said that's been for how many years?
Oh, about 30, I would think.
Okay.
Wow.
Amazing.
Hi, I'm Bev.
Yes.
And I've been with this life group for about a year now.
So we're new to Trinity in perspective of the like, these guys have been here.
Right.
Well, welcome to Trinity.
And I'm glad that you've tapped into a life group.
I think that they're great.
So Rob, you mentioned that your life group has been around for a while.
Does your life group have a name?
No, it does not.
No, we've never given it a trade name.
The names change over the years depending on who the pastor is.
We started in St. Hilda's.
They were all called host churches.
And then they became small groups in Trinity when Mark was here.
Then they became something else, small groups.
And then we became life groups.
You became life groups.
So you keep changing your name, but the core stays the same.
Substance doesn't change that much.
Substance doesn't change.
I love it.
All right, Liz, I was wondering if you could tell us what an average session looks like
in your group.
Well, that has changed over the years as well.
We always used to have dessert.
And we used to have coffee.
And then people stopped drinking coffee at night.
But what we did probably about five years ago was we changed to a meal.
So we actually have a very large dining room table.
And we have a meal together.
And it's been incredible.
We don't have people with little children anymore that they have to look after.
But everybody contributes to the meal in some way or other.
And it's been an incredible experience to eat together, to have that fellowship together,
and to catch up with each other and then have our study after that.
I love that.
So you said there's no more dessert?
No, there is dessert.
Oh, there is dessert.
There is dessert.
There's no more coffee.
No coffee.
And then you mentioned that there's a study afterwards.
So the study's not during the dinner.
Then you go and have your study.
Do you follow the sermon questions that we set out here at Trinity?
Or do you have your own study?
Or have you gone back and forth and done a variety of both?
Back and forth.
We rotate the leadership for the discussion period.
So there's three or four of us that take our turn doing that.
And if there's something that God is doing with us in our lives and we're studying and
we're acting on it, we often want to share that with our life group.
So we bring that forward.
And sometimes it's just sermon questions.
Okay.
All right.
So it's dynamic.
It's flexible.
Yeah, it's flexible, dynamic.
That's great.
Now, Bev, does your life group stay connected throughout the week?
So you mentioned that this group, I know you mentioned previously to me that it's every
other week.
Yes.
But when you're doing life together, which is often one of our slogans, we're not just
meeting every other week.
We stay connected.
Do you connect in other ways?
Yeah, we are all connected on an app.
It's Signal, which is a secure app for our little group there.
And we are able to just connect with each other at any time during the week.
So we had a family whose grandson broke his arm and on to Signal it came.
And then the whole group were just in prayer for this little guy.
And then through the holidays asking, how is he doing?
And it was just a beautiful example of how the family of God loves each other and wants
to support each other.
Some people just will put a verse up to encourage the group.
And then everyone can chat about it and share.
We have a family who are away in India right now and they've been sending us beautiful
updates about it with photos.
And it's a really great way to keep in touch with each other deeper than just the actual
visiting on the Thursday.
Right.
And then I can assume that when you do meet, then you sort of know what's been going on
a little bit.
Definitely.
That's really nice.
So what encouraged you to get involved in your life group?
And Rob, you mentioned that you were, I don't want to say forced, but you were when you
went to St. Hilda's, you were placed in a small group.
The whole church was a house church.
And I assume that you knew this going into that.
Yes, we did.
So what encouraged, and I'm going to ask all of you this, what encouraged you to want to
get connected into a life group originally, whether it was a year ago or 30 years ago?
Well, Christianity is a team sport.
Okay, so the first verse of the Lord's Prayer is our, not my father.
So it reflects the fact that Jesus intended it to be a team sport.
And we can do way more with one another than we can on our own.
So group in.
Yeah.
All right.
Connect in.
Did you have anything, Liz, in your mind that sort of motivated you to want to join a life
group?
I think it was a great way to get to know people originally in a new church.
And it was a great way to be cared for in a large church.
A minister can't do it all.
And we are all called to be ministers and to minister to each other.
And we were encouraged to meet together.
There was, I think we picked our own study at that point.
But yeah.
And then acts of service in the church that we would do as a group as well.
Wonderful.
And does your small group, just when I hear that, does your small group still do acts
of service from time to time out in the community?
Or have you been able to do anything like that?
We took just last year, no, year before, we helped a Ukrainian family that came from the
Ukraine in a moment of crisis.
We set up a house for them and we are still continuing.
Even yesterday, I was out with one of them trying to find an apartment and so it brought
her to church this morning.
Yes.
That's a beautiful story and beautiful people.
I know they are.
That's wonderful.
Yes.
So something you can do on your own, but you can do in a small group.
Exactly.
Wonderful.
Yeah.
Thank you.
For me, we had been involved with life groups and other churches, so we knew the benefit
of it.
When we came to Trinity, it was the most welcoming, friendly place.
We walked in the doors and felt that immediately.
Went to the welcome center to introduce ourselves and asked about life groups.
And before we knew it, we had someone introducing us to someone who is like a neighbor to us
in our local area and we were attending within a couple of weeks.
And so we were right in there.
And I think the beauty of it is, really, as Liz said, you can meet people, but you don't
necessarily know them on a Sunday.
Unless you're very intentional to do that.
And within a context of a life church, you really start to have family and know each
other and it's really God's plan for us, I think.
I think you guys have said that time and time again throughout this session right now.
And I love that.
It's so true.
So something that we haven't mentioned already.
I'm wondering if you could tell me what is one of the best things about your life group?
Maybe you have a story in your head.
Maybe it's something that happens every week.
What is something that would you consider one of the best things about your life group?
I think one of the best things about our life group is that we care for each other.
We have one of our members this week who is having major surgery and we were able to pray
for her on Thursday, lay hands on her, pray for her.
And we will be intentional about caring for her.
And at a moment's notice, as Bev said, we can just put something on signal and we can
just tell people, you know, what is happening.
We need prayer for this.
Yesterday, I put it on, if anybody sees this, please pray that we get an apartment today.
And they did.
They prayed.
It was words of scripture and words of confirmation that came.
And we got the apartment, which was, praise God.
Praise God.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Wonderful.
So something else is the best thing about your group.
Well, I think we gain from each other when we're together and we're sharing our hearts,
our lives, because now we are maturing with each other.
And those in the group that I personally have come to see such spiritual maturity and love
demonstrate that maturity demonstrated in their acts and their love has made me a stronger
person to seek what they know and the God that they know.
So I have just seen the community rising, all the members.
It's just really fascinating to watch all of us growing and becoming more vulnerable
with each other, sharing and loving each other and understanding each other's lives better.
So I don't think you can do that maybe as deeply on a Sunday morning.
Thank you.
And that's something I think we all need.
Thank you.
One woman in our group on Thursday night asked for prayer for a nephew who had broken his
foot.
Right.
And that was fine.
And by the time we finished praying for this nephew, there was such a depth and a well-roundedness
of prayer that nobody could have done this on their own.
It was just shared prayer and we had such insight and such faith to be able to express
it and speak it out.
It was wonderful.
Wow.
And I said to Linda after I said, Linda, nobody could have prayed completely that way on their
own.
Right.
Yeah.
Everyone hears something unique to them and what they exactly.
Yeah.
I love that.
Oh my goodness.
What a great story.
And I'm sure you have lots of stories like that.
That was just that was just from last week.
So I'm going to just remind you what life group starts or stands for.
Stands for learning, insight, fellowship and encouragement.
So which one of those words resonates with you?
Well, I think for me, the learning encompasses all of them because we're learning from each
other because we're fellow shipping, because we're being encouraged.
So for me, the learning just in so many ways, not just factual learning or listening to
the leader that week share an insight, but it's just rubbing shoulders with each other
and listening to each other and learning with each other.
So for me, that's really, really wonderful.
Yeah, I think that for me, it's fellowship because fellowship carries Christian fellowship
carries a vibe.
Jesus said when two or three, so obviously applies for 13 or 15 as well.
Right.
So there's a vibe, there's a dynamic and gathering together in his name that that works.
And when it's over, you're thinking, wow, was that fabulous?
So good.
So actually, you just you just mentioned 13 or 15.
Is that how many you have in your group?
Yeah, right now.
OK, all right.
So you guys are pretty full.
I can imagine it's a great conversation that you have.
It is.
Yeah, it is.
I think encouragement is probably one of the biggest ones for me is this.
I know that I have this other family.
I have my my biological family, but I have this other family that cares for me, loves
me and would be there in a minute if I needed anything.
Wow.
And I think in one of our upcoming sermons, we're going to talk about what family is,
what Jesus redefines the family.
And I think when you mentioned that being in a fellowship of other Christians, that
that really is can be become our family to us.
Now, what would you say are some hopes and prayers that you have for your own group and
also maybe for the life groups here at Trinity?
Because some people aren't tapped into life groups or some people might be changing life
groups.
Some people may never have heard of what a life group was.
So what are some hopes and prayers that you have for the life groups here at Trinity?
Well, one of my prayers is that nobody will be alone and that we won't have to walk this
walk alone.
We won't have to feel the pain of loneliness, which is a deep, deep pain.
It was not God's created intention for us.
And so it would just be horrible to try and live out all the Christian life on your own
without a relationship.
And so I just wouldn't want to see anyone have to go through that.
I think it's very similar.
We did something unusual this Christmas.
We for the first time ever, we didn't have a family Christmas on Christmas Day.
And we invited people who are on would have been on their own on Christmas Day to come
to our house for dinner.
And we had all kinds of other plans because there was a number of languages involved as
well.
And we had games that maybe we could have played or things we could have done.
But the reality, those people just wanted to talk to each other in whatever way they
could and to be with each other.
And I think that's what we're what is so hard in this world where we've become so isolated.
And this gave an opportunity for people to to be together.
So that's my prayer for other small groups that they can really know each other and be
known.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So Rob and Liz are the hosts of our house church.
And I said to Rob, well, you sit there because you're the leader.
And Rob beautifully said, no, Jesus is our leader.
And for everyone to understand and experience that within a context of a group is is really
a beautiful thing because his Holy Spirit works in such different ways based on the
individuals that are are present within the group.
And so he's going to move us into different things and understandings to help the whole
of the community.
And so my wish is that everyone would experience this.
Absolutely.
And so if you are interested in joining a life group, you can actually message Sally
at Sally at Trinity streets, Phil dot org.
And she will make sure to connect you in with a group.
We even have groups that are on line.
There's a new online group starting up in I guess it started up in December and they're
still looking for some members.
So if you're interested in joining a group online, we have one.
And we also have one beginning or beginning soon in South Mississauga that is looking
for some new members as well.
But that got me thinking and this isn't on our script here, but you meet in person and
you said you've been meeting for 30 years, whether or not you've joined early or not.
How did you make it through those covid years?
Did you stop your life group altogether?
No, we increased our life group.
We jumped up from once every two weeks to twice a week, twice a week, twice a week during
covid.
Yes, on zoom.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
It was more important in covid for us to be meeting as a as a life group than it was other
times.
Well, I can hear how important it is, as you said, not to be lonely, to know that you have
one another.
And in covid, those were some of the darkest, loneliest times.
So what a way to what a way to pivot.
Even that's inspiring.
Well, thank you to your group for joining me here on Trinity Talks today.
And I hope that if you're listening in, that you're inspired to join a life group or even
meet up with Rob, Liz or Bev and chat with them a little bit more about their experience
in life groups.