Gather. Grow. Go!
Small Groups and Life Groups help us thrive beyond Sunday service. Through these regular fellowship gatherings, we develop more meaningful connections and relationships with each other and with God. We are blessed to offer a broad and diverse array of Small Groups and Life Groups, facilitated by PT Partners.
While the flavor of both Small Groups and Life Groups is a little different, the ultimate focus is on Christ as we help each other grow and mature in our walk with Him. Learn more about our current offerings below!
Small groups are communities committed to gathering for a longer period of time for prayer, the study of God’s word, and support one another through life. Some represent broader ministries of PT while others focus on certain age or interest groups. All are led by PT partners where you will find Christ centered community and fellowship.
Learn more about our Small Groups below.
Find Your Small Group
Life Groups are short term (6-8 weeks) groups that gather to focus on a particular topic or book. They are facilitated by PT Partners and are places to build relationships, learn from scripture with conversations around a particular topic, and go deep in your walk with Jesus.
Learn more about our Life Groups below.
Find Your Life Group
How to Begin a Life Group
What is a PT Life Group?
It’s a group that…
Is a regular meeting of old and new friends of no more than 10 people
Is led by a PT Partner
Meets for 8 weeks after which it decides if it will meet for another 8 week session
Can be virtual or in person
Is Bible focused on a specific subject area or studies a book of the bible
Can have a rotating facilitator or one designated facilitator
Is resourced by the small group team at PT
Guide to Start a Life Group
Step 1
Gather 3-5 friends. You may meet some folks in your Partner class, or at church on Sunday. You don’t have to know others well in order to organize a Life group. Life groups are a great way to get to know others and build friendships. A group can be as small as 3-4 but shouldn’t be bigger than 10. Most groups should plan to meet for 8 weeks at the start. That way no one is making a long term commitment and everyone is free to try the group out to see how they like it.
Step 2
Agree on a first meeting. Try to meet within 2 weeks of your initial contact and set the day and time. The group should plan on meeting for about 90 minutes for their first meeting. If you are not able to host, see if someone from your group can. The host’s job is to simply provide the space to gather. If they want to provide refreshments they can, but it’s not a requirement. If you are organizing the group, set up an email group and volunteer to send reminders and meeting details.
If you are planning on a virtual meeting, make sure to communicate the Zoom or Google MeetUp link. Make sure you know how to run a virtual meeting. If you need help, you can contact the IT Department at PT and they will be happy to help you.
Step 3
Plan your first meeting: If the group is new to one another and is on the larger size, nametags are a great help. They relieve everyone of having to remember names! Welcome everyone and ask each person to do a short introduction. Have each person share:
- Their name
- Where they live and how long they’ve been at PT
- Some fun detail about themselves like:
- their favorite place they have traveled
- favorite food
- something they like about their job (and something they find challenging about their work)
- favorite thing about where they grew up
There are lots of options. You may have a question you love to ask. Just make sure it's an easy question to answer and let the group know something about them.
Discuss and decide on a meeting day and time. Weekly is best but if that isn’t possible for the majority of the group, every other week can work. Share contact info. Agree how long you will meet each week. Most groups plan on 90 minutes and are committed to starting and ending on time so that everyone can count on a consistent experience. Decide on content: Life groups can decide to study whatever they would like but to make those decisions a bit easier, PT can provide some options, and we are more than willing to help resource your group in any way that is helpful.