You were formed for God's family!

The church is the family of God. That's why it is so important to get into a small group. Small groups are where "family life" really gets lived out. We believe that small groups are the place where sustained life change occurs.

Small groups are where real life and real issues are discussed. This is where we celebrate the successes and good times of life, as well as comfort one another during the tough and disappointing times. It is a place to be encouraged, equipped, and challenged to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Here is a brief summary of our Philosophy of Small Groups at SouthBay Vineyard.

The primary purpose of small groups is fellowship. Secondarily, groups will also engage in worship, discipleship, ministry and mission. But small groups are best for fellowship.

Our goal is for people to form friendships in small groups. We can’t follow Jesus alone. We need friends for encouragement and support. Small groups are the best environments for fostering friendships in the church.

There are many different strategies for small groups. We have adopted a strategy that we believe best captures our philosophy of small groups. Our strategy is to run closed, time-bound groups on a trimester calendar.

We run closed small groups.
After the first couple weeks of a semester, no new members can join. The reason is simple. We want to foster friendships in small groups. We want to avoid the revolving door small group—a different group of strangers meeting every week in the same location. We don’t want our small groups becoming superficial. Relationships take time and commitment to develop. By running closed small groups we create an environment where trust can grows and friendships can form. 

We run time bound groups.
This means that we ask people to make a definite commitment. We do not ask people to commit to a group for the rest of their lives. We ask people to commit to attending the same group for 6 to 12 weeks (depending on the group). For groups to succeed some commitment is necessary. We believe asking people to commit for a semester is both a reasonable and a fruitful commitment.  

We run small groups on the trimester calendar.
Three times a year groups begin. All groups are open at this time and everyone in the church is encouraged to join a group. Semester based small groups make it easy for people to join groups. Awareness is high because small group sign-ups are church wide and so receive church wide attention in announcements, messages, and on the website. And momentum is strong because the whole church is signing up for small groups at the same time.