Housegroups

Housegroups are very important in the life of Wharfedale Vineyard. We describe them as the place where you can know and be known. Housegroups are the places where we have seen most of our healing and life change happen.

One of the first things that Jesus did was to start a small group! In this setting Jesus trained and transformed a group of twelve ordinary people into effective disciples.

Later, Jesus' followers met together to worship, receive teaching, pray and share their lives with each other, with the result that they had a powerful influence upon their communities. From its earliest days, when the church met together it would gather in both larger settings as well as smaller groups (see Acts 2:46), the two complementing one another.

It's the same today. We've found that alongside the many positive and beneficial aspects of a larger crowd assembled at a weekend event, there are also limitations to our effectiveness in caring for people in the way we want to. So the small groups - what we call Housegroups - become all the more important.

In the Vineyard we seek to extend pastoral care through housegroups. This is where you can be known and where you can know others. Where you can give and receive ministry and care. This is one of the reasons we urge you to join a small group, so that when the issues of life emerge and you seek support and help, you have a group around you whom you already known and trust.