Connection Groups

What are Connection Groups?

At Elim Church Crawley, Connection Groups are our network of small groups that create opportunities for people to meet and worship God, share their lives and find new ways to reach out with love to the world around them. Connection Groups meet during the week and are a great place to make friends and provide support and encouragement for each other.

In groups, we aim to develop relationships, build trust and learn to be honest whilst supporting each other. Connection Groups are always looking for people who are interested in joining and throughout the year, hold socials to enable group members to build friendships and get to know the rest of the group.

The main focus is growing and developing groups of people with a heart for God, each other and the world around them. There are currently groups meeting in Furnace Hill, Ifield, Horley, Poundhill and Langley Green as well as a womans only and a 16-30’s group. Connection Groups embrace two core beliefs: 1. that whatever they are called small groups are an important building block of Church and are in their own right, an expression of Church and 2. that every member in ministry and participation is essential

Connection Groups exist not because they are fashionable or a bolt on to our programmes but because we passionately believe in loving God, loving each other and loving our world. Connection Groups allow those three strands of our DNA to find a practical expression in our lives.

What Makes a Connection Group?

Just one strand in a small group, of loving God often results in simply a Bible study, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. Two strands where you love God and you love one another would be similar to the old home groups. But if you have the third strand, outward facing, mission based of loving a lost world then this is a Connection Group. These beliefs are shaped by the values, perhaps best described by someone else as: all Involved, becoming disciples, creating community, doing Evangelism and encountering God.

Many Connection Groups use the '4W’s' as a way of enabling these values to be worked out through members of the group so allowing a variety of contribution and individual expression. Welcome gives us participation, worship brings creativity, word brings application and lastly witness challenges us to be salt and light in the workplace, to be a secret pastor and having un-churched friends.

Many churches don’t use the '4W’s' or any other structure, which is fine. However, the danger is that without a clear structure, the leader will do everything and the groups will become non-participative. The joy of a structure is that different component parts can be delegated; the danger is it becomes the law of the Medes and Persians and it becomes boring.

• If you would like to join a Connection Group or would like more information, please contact us or download an Connections flyer below.