Journey Groups
Journey Groups are designed to build biblical community and equip women to study and apply Scripture to their everyday lives, whether they’ve crossed the line of faith or not. They are intentionally designed to stay small in order to create safe community experiences promoting deep, real-life sharing.
Journey Group DNA
1 core leader prayerfully partnering with 3-4 believers who each invite one unbelieving or “new to the faith” friend. The heartbeat of Journey Groups is discipleship for every woman, regardless of where they are in their faith journey.
Gatherings
1 weekly gathering either virtually or in-person.
Virtual options include Marco Polo, Zoom, FB Messenger or similar platforms.
In-person gatherings should keep unbelieving friends in mind for comfort level (think: coffee shop or restaurant instead of churches or homes)
The Journey
Encourage Journey Group Sisters to read the daily Journeys online and keep a journal with questions or notes from the studies. Leaders can use Marco Polo, text message, or group chats on FB to encourage conversation and sharing from the daily study. (this time commitment is minimal)
What do weekly Gatherings look like?
Our goals are to foster real-life community as well as Scripture study. Spend time engaging with friends on what is happening in their lives, highs and lows from their week, celebrations and struggles. Plan on spending 15-20 minutes here, and transition with a time of prayer for specific shares.
Spend the remainder of time together on a review and discussion of that week’s studies.
A great place to start is by asking, “What stuck out to you in this week’s studies?” and move from there. The GT Weekends are designed with conversation and application in mind; these are great tools to launch sharing times. If time remains, walk through the Original Intent and Everyday Application sections of a Digging Deeper Study from the week together.
Every Journey Group Gathering should include…
1) reading of Scripture aloud (this may be the first time many in your group have ever encountered God’s Word in a personal way!)
2) prayer and sharing in specific ways
3) real-life conversation and encouragement. This isn’t a “checkbox exercise”, but the opportunity to intersect the fullness of God with our everyday lives.
How long do Journey Groups stay together?
Our goal is to build rich community around the truth and grace of Scripture. Groups should plan to study together for a minimum of 6 weeks (2 Journey Themes). At the conclusion of this time, Journey Groups may decide to stay together for additional studies either online or by ordering Journey Theme Books. They may also decide to un-group and begin new groups. If Journey Groups stay together for the long haul, around the 9-month mark, we will encourage these groups to close out and pray for new groups to grow from it!
Who will be in my Journey Group?
To be honest, we don’t know yet! Every aspect of Gracefully Truthful has been birthed from prayer, and we urge you to begin praying now for exactly who the Lord will bring to your Journey Group. We will open up spots on Facebook for those who would like to enroll in a virtual group and we will assign sisters to your group as they register. We also encourage you to prayerfully ask those in your circle of influence to participate with you. We have found that as we asked believing women to join us, they each had more than one unbelieving friend who was interested in participating. Walking by faith is scary but so worth it! Only the Lord knows whose lives He is preparing to change because of your willingness to step out in faith!
What if I get stumped by a question in a Gathering discussion?
We actually hope this happens, it keeps us all humble and seeking! One of GT’s core values is authentic transparency, so if you don’t know the answer to a question, just be honest and respond by saying you don’t know, but you’ll do some research and ask some trusted friends to help find an answer. Remember, you aren’t the answer woman, we are all on this Journey to knowing the Savior better together!
What support will I have from Gracefully Truthful?
1) You will be paired with a GT Partner who will personally check in with you during the week.
2) Assistance in filling your groups as we have participants
3) Journey Study books available “at cost” for you and your group participants should you choose to use them
4) Closed Facebook support group for you as leaders with encouragement and open space for questions and discussion as we grow together
5) Pathway chart access for groups who decide to stay together and keep studying. This provide a clear pathway for steady spiritual depth in studying and growing in maturity based on our Journey Themes.
Are there requirements for being a GT Journey Group Leader?
We encourage every believing woman to disciple the people around them in their sphere of influence, regardless of how long you have walked with Jesus. For GT, we do have a few requirements for our Group Leaders:
1) A committed Christ-follower
2) Agreement with GT’s Statements of Faith
3) Willing to be held accountable and work with the Gracefully Truthful ministry team
4) Willing to submit 2 personal character references who have a close witness of your walk with Jesus.
5) Participation in GT Journey Group Training (a single 90 minute session to simulate a Gathering, answer questions, and pray together for new Journey Groups)
Awesome!
We’re high-fiving you! (and we’ve already been praying for you!)
Fill out the info below
to register as a Journey Group Leader. One of our Partners will be in touch soon!