Small Groups
Greenville COB offers a variety of different small groups. Are you looking for a group of believers to mutually share your life with? Then a GCOB small group is for you! We have a staff to help find what fits for you. Contact the church office for details: 937.548.3583
There is still space to join a small group! Two groups have formed and will be starting to meet twice a month. Groups will meet on the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month. One will meet on Wednesday and one on Thursday. The meetings will take place at various locations, so please contact Pastor Ron if you would like to connect with one of them.
Groups will share a meal and then work on Up-In-Out discipleship.
Discipling Lifestyle
Up-In-OutDiscipleship has been a part of the language of the church from the very beginning. But like many common words, we forget what it means.
A disciple imitates the master. The pattern we observe for making disciples in the New Testament is rooted in imitation. Dallas Willard defined discipleship this way: “Discipleship is learning from Jesus how to live like Jesus.” This is exactly what we see the twelve disciples doing in the gospels. By being with Jesus, they learned from Jesus how to think, act, and live like he did. The twelve disciples watched Jesus, imitated Jesus, and invited others to imitate Jesus by imitating them. That started a movement that spread around the world.
The triangle is a tool that helps us imitate Jesus. It helps us recognize and remember three key aspects of Jesus life-style. We call these “Up-In-Out.”
Up-In–and-Out was the way Jesus lived with his disciples and as followers of Jesus, we are called to have those same dimensions in our lives. This not just an individual discipline. While we are called to follow Jesus individually, we are also called to follow him in community. We are called to sustain an Up-In-Out lifestyle in fellowship with others. This requires some intentionality. It is easy for a group to do one or two of the dimensions together and neglect the others. We need all three.
The Up-In-Out triangle helps us be intentional—as Jesus was—to live a full and balanced life. We can use it to evaluate our own walks with Jesus. How is each dimension in your own life? Are all three dimensions evident and in balance across the board? What is going well? What needs attention? It is also a helpful tool for developing a rhythm for families, small groups, missional communities, and even churches.
It is a helpful tool for evaluating groups, ministries, and even churches. When it comes to finding a church in which to affiliate, people often use the standards that fall in line with cultural values: if a ministry has plenty of money and a lot of people are coming, we might think it’s the place to be. But if we want to follow Jesus, we would be wiser to look for ministries and churches that help us or challenge us to live a balanced in terms of Up, In, and Out. That will lead us to live more like Jesus – which is really the ultimate purpose of our lives and the church.
And this is a key point. When we embrace an up-in-out lifestyle for our small groups and missional communities, we naturally help one another follow Jesus. Thus, we have a bigger impact in the world, and we naturally disciple those we bring into our communities as they do life with us.
Excerpted from First Coast Missional Communities
Groups will share a meal and then work on Up-In-Out discipleship.
Discipling Lifestyle
Up-In-OutDiscipleship has been a part of the language of the church from the very beginning. But like many common words, we forget what it means.
A disciple imitates the master. The pattern we observe for making disciples in the New Testament is rooted in imitation. Dallas Willard defined discipleship this way: “Discipleship is learning from Jesus how to live like Jesus.” This is exactly what we see the twelve disciples doing in the gospels. By being with Jesus, they learned from Jesus how to think, act, and live like he did. The twelve disciples watched Jesus, imitated Jesus, and invited others to imitate Jesus by imitating them. That started a movement that spread around the world.
The triangle is a tool that helps us imitate Jesus. It helps us recognize and remember three key aspects of Jesus life-style. We call these “Up-In-Out.”
- Point 1: Up Jesus spent time with the Father. Many times, we read about Jesus praying. He spoke with the Father. He listened to the Father. And Jesus engaged regularly in worship and praise on his own and in formal gatherings at the synagogue and temple. In Acts, we see the apostles and the early church doing the same things wherever they went.
- Point 2: In Jesus spent time very intentionally with a small group. He invested in a limited number of people in order that they would have a greater impact and at the same time, showed them a model for impacting others. He let them in and took them with him. They knew one another, served one another, and loved one another.
- Point 3: Out Jesus also met the needs he saw in the world around him with the God’s love, grace, and power, often taking his disciples with him as he did. He healed the sick, touched the lepers, fed the hungry, and opened blind eyes and deaf ears. And, he proclaimed the Kingdom of God, inviting people to turn from their old ways toward new life. In the book of Acts, the followers of Jesus did the very same things Jesus had been doing. They had learned from Jesus how to live, minister, and serve like Jesus. And they passed it on.
Up-In–and-Out was the way Jesus lived with his disciples and as followers of Jesus, we are called to have those same dimensions in our lives. This not just an individual discipline. While we are called to follow Jesus individually, we are also called to follow him in community. We are called to sustain an Up-In-Out lifestyle in fellowship with others. This requires some intentionality. It is easy for a group to do one or two of the dimensions together and neglect the others. We need all three.
The Up-In-Out triangle helps us be intentional—as Jesus was—to live a full and balanced life. We can use it to evaluate our own walks with Jesus. How is each dimension in your own life? Are all three dimensions evident and in balance across the board? What is going well? What needs attention? It is also a helpful tool for developing a rhythm for families, small groups, missional communities, and even churches.
It is a helpful tool for evaluating groups, ministries, and even churches. When it comes to finding a church in which to affiliate, people often use the standards that fall in line with cultural values: if a ministry has plenty of money and a lot of people are coming, we might think it’s the place to be. But if we want to follow Jesus, we would be wiser to look for ministries and churches that help us or challenge us to live a balanced in terms of Up, In, and Out. That will lead us to live more like Jesus – which is really the ultimate purpose of our lives and the church.
And this is a key point. When we embrace an up-in-out lifestyle for our small groups and missional communities, we naturally help one another follow Jesus. Thus, we have a bigger impact in the world, and we naturally disciple those we bring into our communities as they do life with us.
Excerpted from First Coast Missional Communities
Sunday School
Multiple Sunday school classes are available for adults and children every Sunday morning at 9:30am at GCOB. Contact the church office for details on which class would fit you best.
Men's Fellowship Breakfast
Men ages 12+ are invited to attend Men's Breakfast every 2nd Saturday of the month. We meet uptown Greenville at the Double M Diner (In The Palace building) at 8:00 am. (For more information contact the church office at 548-3583.)
Men ages 12+ are invited to attend Men's Breakfast every 2nd Saturday of the month. We meet uptown Greenville at the Double M Diner (In The Palace building) at 8:00 am. (For more information contact the church office at 548-3583.)
Ladies' Fellowship
The ladies meet for coffee and fellowship at 8:00 am on the 2nd Saturday of each month. They meet uptown Greenville at the Coffee Pot in the Palace Building.
Other scheduled events geared for our ladies occur at different times during the year.
Check the current newsletter or contact the church office for more information.
The ladies meet for coffee and fellowship at 8:00 am on the 2nd Saturday of each month. They meet uptown Greenville at the Coffee Pot in the Palace Building.
Other scheduled events geared for our ladies occur at different times during the year.
Check the current newsletter or contact the church office for more information.