Community Groups are the primary vehicle for discipleship at Mars Hill.
We gather in community groups with our friends and neighbors to live life together and experience the gospel in ways we can’t on our own. They are a place to wrestle with the truths of the Bible, love one another, serve the city, and participate in the mission of God for Mars Hill.
We were created for community for the Glory of Jesus and for our great joy. Whether you are new to Mars Hill or you have been hanging around waiting for an opportunity, there is a Community Group in your neighborhood that is waiting for you. click on the get connected link and choose your campus to get connected.
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY GROUP?
Gathering weekly for fellowship and accountability, study and prayer, good times and tears, Mars Hill Community Groups are an essential expression of our church’s mission. At the heart of the Community Groups ministry is the desire to see a community of believers who worship Jesus, love one another, and embody the mission of Mars Hill to make disciples. God has called us to a continuous lifestyle of worship and relationship with Himself, which is cultivated and nurtured within the body of Christ. The Church is a people. It is a gift of God. At Mars Hill, community groups are the place where discipleship and care takes place. It is where we encourage one another to be worshipers of our Lord. It is where the body becomes the body, loving, caring and challenging one another. As well, it is within community that we engage culture and incarnate Jesus in the nooks and crannies of our city. We were created to worship Jesus in community in the Image of our Creator, who Himself exists in community. It is our desire to see every member of Mars Hill loved, cared for, and challenged within a thriving community. And it is our desire that our neighbors within this city are blessed and touched by the love of Jesus through the lives of our members.
I AM NEW HERE…AM I READY FOR A COMMUNITY GROUP?
A community group is a gathering of people from the church that get together weekly to share life and support one another. Life is hard. It was never meant to be lived in isolation. Community is a gift of God intended to help us see and experience the good news of Jesus in profound and tangible ways. If you are new to the church this the perfect place for you to belong, ask questions, and wrestle with your faith in a community of people who care for you, not because your life is together, but because you are created in the image of God. It is within community that we exist as true family in a time when the concept of a loving and caring family can seem foreign. It is a place where we encourage and challenge one another in our journey to know Jesus in deeper and more personal ways. In Community Groups, people talk through life issues, eat together, pray together, laugh together, struggle together, and serve others as we are transformed by the grace of God in our lives.
WHY ARE COMMUNITY GROUPS SO IMPORTANT TO MARS HILL?
Getting connected at Mars Hill means participating in both the Sunday gathering and a Community Group. Sundays are a time for celebrating in worship of Jesus together, hearing the preaching of the Word, and sharing in Communion. Community Groups are the place where the seeds of the preached Word take root and become real. It is the place where we build relationships with one another and living life together. As well, it is within the groups within the neighborhoods of the city that we can participate in the work that God has called us to as a church. Our groups are an opportunity to love and bless the city in unique ways.
COMMUNITIES AND CAMPUSES: HOW DOES THAT WORK?
For those new to Mars Hill, we are one people that meet around the Sound at different locations called campuses. Our desire for each person that calls Mars Hill home is that they would connect with a specific campus. We want you to identify with the mission and vision of a campus in a particular context where you worship, serve and participate in community. For most that will coincide with where you live and the campus that is the closest. We discourage people from attending one campus and participating in a community of another as that disconnects community from the mission. We would like to encourage you to consider where God has called you to participate and join in the mission of a specific campus and plant roots there in attendance, service and community.
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT WHEN I GO
Each Group is unique as the group reflects the neighborhood in which it exists. However, you can expect a weekly gathering that involves food, conversation, prayer, discussion for applying the Bible to practical living, and service in the neighborhood. Community Groups are an environment for building relationships with one another, which strongly emphasizes challenging one another to drive God’s Word deeply into our lives. Most Groups follow the Sunday sermon series; although some may choose to work through another book of the Bible. Community groups are much more than a Bible study however, they are community, a place where we can laugh, cry, work and play together for glory of Jesus. This means you could expect BBQ’s, yard work for an elderly neighbor, bowling, working in children’s ministry, visiting people in the hospital, birthday parties, etc.
