Life Groups

Most Life Groups meet for 60 to 90 minutes. The discussion guide is designed to fit naturally into that window, with room for real conversation.

You don't need to be an expert. The discussion guide does the heavy lifting. You just need to show up and care about the people in your group. The starter kit includes videos to help everyone get comfortable with the format.

Life Groups work best with consistency, but there is no formal commitment. Most groups meet monthly or twice a month and find their own rhythm over time. Some groups meet weekly. The starter kit allows a group to make a small initial commitment to try out just six sessions before considering whether to continue meeting.

Yes! All EC Life Group resources are available in Spanish through your EC account. Just log in and look for the Spanish guides in the Life Group section.

While a general small group might include people at varying places of faith and openness, EC Life Groups are specifically for self-identifying missionary disciples, people who want mutual support in a lifestyle of prayer, community, and mission. They're intentionally small (usually 3 to 5 people) and use the Life-Growth-Mission-Prayer framework. Reach More is EC's mission training process for learning to evangelize. A Life Group is about sustaining and deepening the life of missionary discipleship you're already living.

Every EC Life Group follows a four-part rhythm: Prayer to anchor yourselves, Life to share what's on your heart, Growth to reflect on Scripture together, and Mission to discuss how you're living the gospel in your daily life. Then pray together again at the end, bringing one another and all that was shared to the Lord. The whole thing runs 60 to 90 minutes. The EC discussion guides walk your group through all four elements. No preparation required beyond showing up.

Of course! The Life-Growth-Mission-Prayer framework is a great structure to use with any other resource. Think of the “growth” portion as the time you discuss a text or video resource together, or simply read and discuss a Scripture passage like the upcoming Sunday Gospel. See the Small Group Toolbox in the EC account for more resources and methods for discussing Scripture in groups—like group lectio divina and the mark-up method.

Yes. EC Life Group discussion guides and the simple structure of Life-Growth-Mission-Prayer can work well for groups of any size. We like to recommend keeping things small because this allows for deep connection and commitment, and for each person to fully participate. It’s also logistically simpler than corralling and coordinating a larger group. If you feel called to a larger group, we recommend meeting for at least two hours each time and breaking into smaller groups of 3-4 for some of the discussion and prayer prompts, so that members don’t just sit on the sidelines while a few more talkative people do most of the sharing.

We recommend establishing a regular rhythm of male-only or female-only Christian community. Brothers or sisters in Christ can share with a degree of understanding and depth that’s often difficult or impossible with the opposite sex present. Even for married couples who share faith, it’s important to seek out single-sex friendships and community. That said, some couples’ groups can work as effective life groups, under the right conditions, and if all the members are serious about faith and discipleship to Jesus. If you choose to do a couples’ group, we recommend setting aside regular time (perhaps even during each gathering) for men to talk with men and women to talk with women. Or you could alternate between men’s/women’s and mixed sessions.