Community Group Matters
At Compass Point, we believe that Aligning Lives to the Way of Jesus is a process that happens best in community. We also believe that church is more than an hour or two on Sunday mornings. It’s about sharing our lives together – supporting each other in practical ways, engaging in spiritual practices together, and serving our neighbours.
Compass Point Community Groups are opportunities during the week that create space for us to welcome and respond to Jesus together.
Today we are chatting with Nancy and Steve DeLeeuw who lead one of our Community Groups.
Can you tell us a little about your small group and what prompted you to get involved?
Steve and I have been involved with varioius small groups over the years, but it was in 2019 when I felt the Lord’s nudging to start a new CP Community Group. When I asked my husband about it, he reminded me of his work-time constraints with facilitating such a venture. But happily he agreed to be by-my-side as I took the predominate lead. We then prayed for who might join. Now Steve and I lead a group of eight people, including both married and single members, some new to the Lord, and some who have known the Lord for a very long time.
It was also our hearts desire to work with a “missional purpose” for this new group. In all, there were three intentional goals we wanted to include:
- Studying, learning, praying, & growing in the Lord together.
- Working missionally at our church & at other organizations.
- That we would enjoy each other’s company socially in-order to build strong bonds of friendships in Christ.
Helping at Sew on Fire
Why do you enjoy being a leader?
Easy answer! Seeing people grow in their walk with God!
We have witnessed so many answered prayers together and we’ve witnessed our people moving out of their comfort zones. They continue to freely talk from their hearts. We do not discriminate nor judge. We love hard questions about God and we often answer them together as a group, and always from His Word.
Some are now praying aloud in our group for the first time! One individual has now assumed the responsibility of writing all our prayer requests, and then sharing them on our “WhatsApp Group” so that we can continue to pray for one another. This was a stretch for her! Another individual facilitated a group time study while we participated. And still others help with our fun social outings.
Our members continually encourage one another too. They frequently engage with each other outside our group meetings and socials. After a hard year of loss in our personal family, the women in our group took it upon themselves to call my mother, (who also endured this past year of sorrow), and went to visit her in Brantford (pictured above). They wanted to bring her comfort and encouragement and a basket of goodies!
This is exactly the acts of kindness we want to help encourage. It’s a “being the hands and feet of Jesus” kind of thinking! We were never meant to walk this life alone.
Tell us about what a typical group study looks like.
Our group runs bi-weekly, right after the Sunday service in the CP Hub. We begin by having a light lunch, brought by one of our individuals/couples present (we take turns) and then we make time to chat, get caught up and enjoy each other.
Announcements are made about upcoming events, including fun outings and or upcoming missional work, food scheduling etc. We then move into inviting someone to open our time up in prayer, followed by a Bible and/or video presentation that moves us into our study time.
Prayer requests are then collected at the table verbally (later to be placed in our WhatsApp group so that we can keep each other lifted). We then close in prayer.
Serving our community at the Annual Food Market Christmas Breakfast
Helping with our Spring Food Drive
Can you tell us about your special projects that you’ve done with your group, and why you think it’s important to get involved this way?
Some of our special projects have included a Spring CP Food Drive, and at Christmas, preparing for the Food Market breakfast.
We also worked at “Sew-On-Fire” packing bags sent to those in need around the world, and locally. We believe that when we work together missionally, we are fulfilling God’s mandate for His Church, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10
Get Involved
If you are someone who is looking to get involved, or even considered being a leader, we would love to connect with you!
Not Sure Where to Start? Maybe you are new to Compass Point and don’t know where to start when it comes to meeting in a small group. Perhaps you have been a long time member, but never got involved and would like to start! We also have a Community Group for those who are new to Compass Point.