What's the big deal about "community?"
True community changes lives and impacts culture. It is rooted in the kind of life Jesus practiced and can be expressed as small groups gather everywhere-in neighborhoods, missional communities, house churches, and in neo-monastic societies. The resurgence of communal life is a growing movement in the 21st century, as existing and emerging churches alike recognize the essential role groups play to extend the grace and truth of Jesus to every person. Life in community is the heartbeat of the church, and remains the catalyst for missional impact worldwide.
What is the Group Life Movement?
The Group Life Movement is part of the Adult Ministries segment within the Willow Creek Association. Our goal is to help biblically functioning churches realize that life-change happens best in community, and to assist them in strategic planning, training, and deployment of ministry plans implementing spiritual formation through small groups and other forms of biblical community.
We are committed to connecting you to life-changing experiences, resources, training, ideas, and relationships that will help you build authentic community.
What is the Willow Creek Association?
The Willow Creek Association was founded in 1992, and works to link like-minded, action-oriented churches with each other and with strategic vision, training, and resources. We are driven by a calling to serve Christ-following leaders as they build biblically functioning churches—authentic, Acts 2 communities of faith that reach increasing numbers of lost people and grow them into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to seek out and share God-given breakthroughs with widespread potential from churches around the world, supporting a rapid diffusion of innovation through the local church for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. The WCA is a not-for-profit ministry, with more than 12,000 Member Churches from 90 denominations and 45 countries. These churches, and others we serve, represent a wide variety of sizes, denominations, and backgrounds, and are ministering in literally every corner of the world.
While pursuing their own unique, God-given vision for ministry in their own communities, Member Churches confirm a shared commitment to Christ and a passion for reaching those who are not yet part of His family.
What exactly do you do?
Our largest vision and training event is the Group Life Conference held each fall. You can learn about our 2008 Conference by clicking on Essential for the Human Heart.
Throughout the year we hold Advanced Training workshops at the main Willow Creek campus in South Barrington, Illinois, and at various locations throughout the US and Canada. Our Small Group Cohorts assist ministry point leaders in developing strategic plans and enable peer support and mentoring throughout the year. Read more about Group Life Training Opportunities.
Our online training group is developing web-enabled technologies to provide vision, training, curriculum, and media support for anyone in Group Life ministry.
What's with the change from Small Groups to Group Life?
Twenty-five years ago, nearly everyone used the same terminology. From Carl George to Lyman Coleman to Roberta Hestenes, everyone was talking small groups. As the movement has grown over the past thirty years, it has gained a depth and texture that is not easily captured in one word or phrase. Some churches still refer to small groups, while others refer to group life, house groups, life groups, growth groups or one of a hundred other names.
Our team is still about building biblical community — that much has not changed. But we were searching for a phrase that would reflect the different ways Christian community is being expressed within today's church regardless of model and philosophy. "Group Life" seems to encompass what we are seeking to facilitate.
