Online LIFE Groups | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks and I

am really excited this week to talk with some folks who are all part of online

life groups. We've just had our life group launch here at the church and we

know that there are many folks who maybe can't come into the church or can't

commit to going out on a weeknight to be part of a life group but online life

groups are something that we've been doing here at Trinity for a few years

and so I just want to take some time and chat with some folks who are part of

online life groups and so I will just welcome those folks with us. So we have

Charles and Pat and Ryan and Jessica and so I just want to get you folks to start

maybe just introduce yourself a little bit and say what made you decide to be

part of an online life group. So perhaps Charles we'll start with you. Okay well

life groups have been a important part of my life here at Trinity. In fact I was a

member of a life group before I actually attended Trinity Church. So in 1991 we

actually had some form of life group back then and I was a part of that and

then it was only in 1992 our family joined Trinity and I've been in life

groups ever since. So there's been a lot of iterations but life groups I think are an

important part of just being together as as Christians to encourage and to learn

and to disciple one another. Great thank you. Pat what about you? Well my story

sounds very similar to Charles. We've been at Trinity since 1998 and right

from the very beginning I was able to get involved. The first time I did it was

it was through a conversation with Diane Toysen. I said is there such a thing as

a life group for women that often are in church singly? Not that they're single

people but how are you still at home? And she says no there isn't but there is a need.

How would you like to have one? So my story about life groups is I often opened my

mouth and voice a thought and found myself in another situation where there

would be a small life group for a certain amount of time but it's been important as

Charles said it's the anchor that holds us to a community. I really believe it

because it's a small group of people that get to know each other well, learn to

love each other well and to like each other too. So that's really an

important reason for being in a life group and the question about why did I

get involved in an online life group? Well I was in a life group already and COVID hit.

That was the launch for us. Now some of us in the group were very well

prepared to go this technical route. Others of us were not so well prepared.

I still could not launch myself. I know how to sign in but it's somebody else who

thought of setting up but that's why it started for our group and because the

group that I'm in has more white haired people than not, we are now moving into the phases of our lives

where mobility and getting out becomes more challenging and we're becoming

caregivers for other people who have mobility and challenging. Zooming in to

our life group has just been wonderful. It just meant we could continue to meet through COVID.

But we found as we were meeting that this really astuted us so well and so

that's why I'm enthusiastic about the zooming into a life group because no

matter what the weather is outside, no matter what the health issues of the

week are, we can still get there easily. We have found that just because of the

setup, just as we're all on screen now, it's almost as good as being in the same room.

Thanks Pat. Ryan and Jessica, what about you folks?

Yeah so the two of us moved to Mississauga about three years ago and you

know completely new to the area, didn't know anyone really. So found Trinity and

once we decided that that was going to be our church home, we knew we wanted to

get connected and involved. So yeah looking at just different life groups

and we're interested in the one we're in because it's geared more towards young

adults and just we wanted to get to know more people in our age group, in the

church, so yeah that was a great way for us to do that. I'm trying to remember if

it was was it Jordan or was it Jessie that introduced or was it you Kyla? I don't

remember. It could have been all three of you together to bring us in but we greatly

appreciated it. Yeah. We still do. Great and I'm wondering if anybody has any

stories from their life group, maybe a favorite memory or something that's

been really meaningful for you? I'm glad you sent some questions ahead of time so

I could think through you know. I mean this is obviously been a lot of

meaningful memories. Particularly when people are willing to be open and

vulnerable and you work through a challenging situation that somebody's

going through as a group you know and you support them and support one another

but actually one of the most meaningful memories of being part of a life group

occurred just a few months ago. We meet online. It's mostly the senior men and

the Trinity. In fact I joked when I joined the group that it's one of the

few groups I've joined recently in which I've lowered the average age. But we

met originally in person in GermFlex basement and we did that for a number of

years and then as Pat said COVID hit and then we had the decision to make. So we

had a few technical hurdles but we did go online and we managed through the

pandemic and we had some valuable time together. Then after the pandemic

subsided we thought shall we go back together again as a group and one of the

problems was that we had around about 14 people at that time and that was just

maybe too many people to fit in Jim's basement. So we decided to

stay online and also there's the convenience that people can join from

wherever they are. We've had people join from golf courses

waiting for a doctor's appointment or something or in their

car in a car park somewhere. Also people outside of the area you know if they

move away they can still be part of our group. So that's one of the advantages of

the online experience. But my meaningful memory was of Gary Plarson who took over

the leadership of Jim Flagg for our group. He was quite instrumental in

ensuring that we met longer. We used to just meet for a few weeks in the spring

and then also in the fall but he wanted to go through, find out to summer, take a

brief break and then have fall and into the winter. Alright great guy. Anyway

unfortunately he got seriously ill and he was admitted to Credit Valley

Hospital and he was there for about 12 weeks. But I think he only missed one or

two meetings. He was there in the hospital bed with tubes going in and out of him

with his phone being part of our group. I mean it was such a testament to

his dedication to the group and also the importance for him you know of actually

meeting together with us. And that's so much to me and each one in the group.

Yeah. Oh thank you. That's really neat Charles. People can definitely join from

anywhere I guess. I think for us I would say I'll try remembering I don't

remember the exact date but it was like in a winter whether it was last winter

or two winters ago our group decided to do a volunteer ship at Open Door and

Kyle you were part of that and that I felt to me and Jess and I it was really

special because it was we were doing something not just to benefit ourselves

but to benefit other people in need and big time. So that I think was kind of a

favorite moment or memory for our group. I'm just going to change that question a

little bit not to. I'm going to eliminate memory and I'm going to say what's your favorite or

most meaningful aspect of your life group. Sure. We follow a certain format

there's we come together we we share our news of the week we share anything

personal like that and then we have a specific devotional book that we're

following that we do that and then we get to prayer time and I really believe

that our prayer life has been enriched by being online. Now that sounds kind of

odd but everybody is in their own personal space and all inhibitions seem

to just melt away and our prayer life is just remarkable and sometimes very very

long and you know how sometimes when you're in a in a group setting where

you're physically there you keep reminding yourself you better cut this

off you better stop talking too much kind of thing. So that's the part of our

group and I love it all and I love all the women that are in this group but that the part of

our get-together when we actually pray together has been just remarkable and it

just continues to be fun you know so that's what I like best about my my

online life group. Yeah yeah that that's really neat thank you thank you for

sharing that Pat. So sometimes we might think that if you're in an online group

then it's harder to get to know the other people in your group maybe it's

harder to build a sense of connection or friendship so what are some of the ways

that in your experience you've been able to build friendships or build

connection with people even if you only see each other online or only see each

other regularly online maybe? For us our group does a bunch of different things

one thing is like we start our meetings always like just with a check-in casual

chat of like how your day went how your week went kind of just checking in with

each other that way and we also have a WhatsApp group where we can just message

each other what's going on in our life and just yeah sure what's happening

with each other and then we also we also do organize once in a while meetings

where we do gather in person and go out to eat or play a game or something like

that so yeah one one thing that we did we all did the Sabbath habits I forget

what it was called exactly Sabbath course I think yeah yes study course we all did

that as a group and then at the end we all gathered together and had like a

Sabbath dinner together so that was really cool. Yeah great thank you. We make a point of

getting together physically a couple or three times throughout the year it seems

that the years are flying by faster for all of us now and so just we we make a

point of having time together physically or coffee or for lunch so that we don't

have to just be satisfied with virtual hugs we can actually have real hugs with

each other. Yeah no that's nice. As you grow together as a group you build trust

because you're sharing neutral vulnerabilities you've been open and

honest with each other and so with that trust it's okay to laugh at one another

humor is important you know so some of the guys yes we enjoy just rubbing one

another as well. Sure yeah I know that happens in our group as well for sure

and so as I mentioned this is our life group launch Sunday and so perhaps there

are folks who aren't part of a life group right now but are thinking about joining

one so what would you say to someone who's maybe on the fence and thinking

about should I join a life group should I join an online life group what would

you say to those folks? Do it. Okay. Seriously be a part of a life group but

you've got to ask yourself what what are you looking for

what are you comfortable with okay are you more comfortable in an online setting

you know you have a little bit more control okay I mean you can leave when

you want but I think it's so important to be part of a smaller community you

know just learning to follow Jesus and just being courage so be a part of that

if you want to go online you know are you are you comfortable with technology

because you know sometimes Zoom can be challenging and also there are

limits to online relationships so there's parts said you know we also try

and have a barbecue during the summer I think so we have some time together

physically as well plus we take time to either have a lunch with one or two of

the other members or we meet at Trinity sometimes. Right. That's great. And I would echo what Ryan said just do it

try it because the people involved in life groups at Trinity are people that

are open to welcoming and I think that if you have any inclination or any

questions about it give it a try be in touch with with you Tyler and and get

hooked up with the group and give it a try. That should be the slogan is

just do it. I think that was Nike's slogan for a little bit.

Life groups, why not? Why not? Give it a try. Well thank you folks so much for

for joining us and for this this really great conversation and and as you have

heard them all now say if life groups is something that you're thinking about

just do it. Feel free to reach out to myself or to reach out to Sally who

helps to coordinate our life groups and we would love to get you connected and

involved. So thank you for joining us for this episode of Trinity Talks and we'll

see you again next time.