Welcome to the Care Group Ministry of Island ECC!
We believe the scripture is very clear that the Christian life is to be lived out in community with other believers, and that it is only within Christian community that a follower of Christ will grow to be the type of person that God wants them to be.
Care groups are a place where you will see the 5 core values of ISLAND ECC - worship, growth,community, outreach and service - visibly fleshed out by the body of Island ECC.
These groups meet in homes and offices all around Hong Kong Island at different times during the week and they are a source of encouragement for all who attend.
Please be encouraged to find a group that suits you and your family best where you can minister and be ministered to.
For more information, please contact the Pastor of Care Group Ministries, at caregroup@islandecc.hk
Our Island member commitment to biblical conflict resolution
Care Group Overview
"I tell you the truth," Jesus said, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields- and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:29-30
When Jesus made this statement he was talking about the church. And in that statement we are reminded that what matters most in life are relationships. And that is what the church is all about: relationship– with God and with one another. It is our great privilege and our great responsibility to engage in such relationships with zest and delight. At Island ECC, the chief opportunity to cultivate and develop such relationships is in our Care Groups.
WHAT IS A CARE GROUP?
Care Groups are basic Christian communities. Believing that discipleship and evangelism are activities best carried out in a community context, Care Groups provide that context. They are gatherings of 12 to 18 people meeting in individual's homes and apartments throughout the City during the week. In Care Groups, people come to know God and to experience His presence, community is developed and fostered, and people are nurtured, equipped and released for God's work in the world. They provide an opportunity for intimacy, mutual support, practical love and service, learning about the Christian faith, prayer, and sharing of what we see God doing in our midst. They are led by trained lay-leaders from the congregation who are given on-going support.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CARE GROUPS?
A place to meet with and experience Jesus Christ in Our Midst
The primary goal for the Care Group meeting is to experience Christ Jesus in our midst in his presence and power. We want him to be at work by His Spirit ministering to us and through us to one another to the end that people are cared for and encouraged to lead God pleasing lives. We desire Christ to transform and change our lives as individuals, as small communities, and through us, the larger communities of which we are a part.
A Place for fellowship and friendship
Fellowship can be defined as seeking to share with others what God has made known to you while letting them share with you what they know of him as a means of finding strength, refreshment and instruction for one's own soul. The Scriptures give us numerous commands concerning how we should interact in fellowship with one another. We are told to encourage one another, serve one another, rejoice and weep with one another, correct, instruct, sing to, build up, accept and love one another. There is no better way to put yourself in a position to fulfill these commands than by becoming part of a Care Group.
These groups also serve as a key way to integrate people who join our community and as a way to keep the leadership aware of the concerns and troubles which face the members of our congregation which might otherwise remain hidden.
A Place Where Gifts are experienced
The church is sometimes compared to a football stadium where you find 22 people who desperately need a rest and thousands of people who desperately need exercise. Care Groups are a place where spiritual gifts are discovered and exercised within the group itself, within the larger church, and to the world. They are a place where a vision for ministry and service are developed.
A Place to Discover Christianity
Care Groups are a place where individuals who are seeking truth can be invited and encouraged to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. In addition, they serve as a place where we can remind one another of our call to share the gospel and pray for those with whom we are sharing good news that God has reconciled himself to us in Jesus Christ. The claim is sometimes made that small groups can either be used for evangelism or for discipleship, but that they can not do both at the same time. That has not been our experience. It is true that if you aim at edification you will probably lose the attention of the non-believers in your midst. It is also true that if you aim at evangelism, you will eventually bore the believers in your midst. But those are not our only options.
If we aim at experiencing Christ in our midst, we will find that we are both building up believers and challenging non-believers.
Because these groups are expected to be reaching out to seekers and inviting newcomers in the church to join them, they must have a vision for multiplying new groups and developing new leadership.
HOW DO THEY FIT INTO ISLAND ECC CHURCH AS A WHOLE?
Care groups are the primary place for getting and staying connected care at Island ECC. Churches do one of two things: They either practice systematic care and encouragement of the congregation or systematic neglect of the congregation. Our network of care groups is the means through which we seek to practice the former. Our network of Care groups serve as the nervous system of our church. In them, the gospel is used to motivate people towards a richer relationship with God. In them, the gospel is used as a balm to apply to the wounds we incur in this broken world. In them, the gospel is used to call and motivate people into the service of God's kingdom: In response to God’s grace, people are urged to develop lives of moral beauty, integrity and other-centeredness and to discover and use their gifts to carry out ministry both within the congregation and
to the world.
Though the Bible does not command us to organize small group ministry, it does presuppose that a significant relational life exists within the church. Where this does not happen naturally, the church must cultivate it. Care groups are Island ECC’s chosen means of cultivating that relational life. Because of their foundational role in the life of our church we hope that a great majority of the Island ECC family will be involved in a Care Group.
WHAT ARE THE DISTINCTIVES OF Island ECC'S CARE GROUPS?
1. They are considered primary Christian communities of nurture; therefore they are balanced between the elements of worship, Bible study, sharing and prayer.
2. They are led by servant leaders. Leaders, who continue to receive training.
3. They are led by supported leaders. Leaders ought to attend CARE GROUP LEADER TRAINING and report to a Coordinator or Pastor.
4. They meet at least twice a month, for the entire ministry year (September - June).
5. They are committed to multiplying. Groups should generally have less than 18 participants.
6. They are committed to developing new leaders through apprenticeship.