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LifeGroups at ECC
2024-8-6 | Pastor Chuck Potts
According to a new poll from the American Psychiatric Association from January 2024, one in three Americans feels lonely every week. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, called loneliness “a public epidemic”. Since COVID, 25% of people said they were lonelier now than they were before the pandemic. And if you’re like me, you’re not surprised by these statistics. For better or for worse, social structures and community activity have changed over the past few decades, which is definitely a contributing factor to loneliness. But I would also argue that changes to priorities on how we spend our time, including how so many of us have less time for engagement within our church communities, have added to our collective sense of loneliness. I’m sure many of you have sat in the pews here at ECC and felt disconnected from people, even as you sit amongst the 250 or so other people in the worship service.
The so called “epidemic” of loneliness is what spurred leaders here at ECC to create our LifeGroups initiative as we were coming out of the pandemic and getting back to social gatherings. While there were still small groups that met outside of ECC, our goal was to significantly strengthen these efforts and focus them into life-giving ministry where we could build community by walking our journey of faith together.
Currently, we have about 165 ECC members and friends actively participating in LifeGroups or that have signed-up and are waiting for placement in a LifeGroup. Each of the groups are currently gearing up and getting ready to get back to a regular meeting rhythm in the fall, which is a great time for new groups to be formed or for people to be added to current LifeGroups.
If you are not currently in a LifeGroup and would like to be, please visit our LifeGroups portal to learn more and fill out the interest form. You can always reach out to Pastor Stacey or me if you have questions. We do our best to get people into LifeGroups that work within their schedules and preferences, but this is not an exact science. It may take some time to find or put together the right group for each person. Our prayer is that everyone who wants to be in a LifeGroup can be in one where they feel comfortable and safe to share their lives and faith with others.
Whether you are in a LifeGroup or not, I hope you will join us in praying for this ministry and all who participate. Pray that those who are lonely will find community and companionship in a LifeGroup. And pray that the LifeGroup ministry, as a whole, will strengthen and deepen our connections as a church community, as we share life together.
--Pastor Chuck