Pastoral Home Groups

Pastoral Home Groups

How can we understand the Word of God without study, community and commitment?  Regular meetings currently take place across the Parish on a weekly basis for fellowship and bible study.    The second chapter of second Timothy invites us to: “work hard so (we) can present (ourselves) to God and receive his approval.   Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”  And that’s what we aspire to do through Home Group: study, fellowship and share together over cake and hot drinks.  All who are interested are free to join us.

We are blessed to have the following experienced Pastoral Care Group co-leaders coordinating Home Groups within the Parish: Mark and Anne Andrews and Russell Shipton.   

Themed Bible Studies for the whole Parish will be introduced each year around the study materials like “Come and See” during Lent and other chosen relevant materials.

Other Resources

The opportunity to still indulge in other personal studies personally and in small groups remain.  This page will be regularly refreshed with available resources in order to pursue deeper knowledge of the Word of God, with which comes deeper spirituality, greater discernment and theological insight.  In the meantime, please find listed available resources referenced through the Diocesan website:

Growing on the Frontline is an eight-session small group course from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity ( LICC) that helps people to become more Christ-like within their everyday contexts, with the aim of transforming the places we live and the people we love, and to enable us to live authentically for Jesus.

Fruitfulness on the Frontline is a six-session small group course from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity ( LICC) that enables people to notice God at work in and through their lives and encourages them to become workers for God in their everyday context.

Making Disciples is a holistic model that provides small group sessions, individual resources and church resources. It has a focus on reflection on personal discipleship to aid participants as they grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Being with is an increasingly popular new course from St Martin-in-the-Fields that describes itself as ‘an invitation to invest in becoming the type of person who knows how to be with yourself, others, the world around us and through this to be with God. It is an invitation to discover faith in the context of discovering friendship.’

Discipleship Explored is an eight-session course with a focus on the love of Christ. It follows Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and involves real-life stories and brand new documentary films that build on the weekly Bible readings.

The Bible Project is a growing website based in America which provides exceptional audio-visual Biblical learning resources. It is mostly aimed at personal use by people seeking to grow their knowledge and understanding of Scripture but many of the resources can be downloaded and used within a small group.

The Bible Society offer a huge array of resources for individuals and groups to engage with Scripture including podcasts, books, daily reflections, videos, and maps of the Holy Land. Their very popular eight-part Bible Course which looks at the whole story of the Bible is available for individual and small group use.

Five Steps to Faith is an five-part course from Bible in Brief that introduces the basic story of the Christian faith, accessible to both children and adults new to Christian faith or preparing for Baptism/Confirmation.

Faith Pictures is an six-part video based course for those exploring faith from Church Army. It’s particular strength is the audio-visual centre of each session which can engage with those who prefer a less traditional small group structure.

Discovery Series contains a wealth of material that seeks to make the Bible more accessible. There are many courses on different books and stories and characters from the Bible such as the Sermon on the Mount, Christmas, Mary Magdalene etc.

Talking Jesus involves six video-based sessions and a coursebook with a special focus on evangelism. It is great for encouraging participants to be more confident in sharing their everyday faith.

Everyday Witness is produced by the Church of England. It’s a ten-week course focusing on evangelism and can be used in tandem with a 50-day series of daily reflections which allows individuals to explore what it means to be a witness and to share faith.

The Firepit (Encouraging One Another)

The Firepit is way of creating the space for a small group to talk about daily life and sharing issues about everyday faith. Some groups have been meeting online using the Firepit model to provide fellowship, encouragement, support and accountability. Firepits work for established groups but are also great to use at the beginning of a new small group by sharing stories of how God is active and present and working for good in your lives. Download and print out this leaflet for each person in a Firepit.