Fellowship Groups
What are Fellowship Groups?
The basis of Christian communities.
What is a Fellowship Group?
Fellowship Groups are basic Christian communities. Believing that discipleship and evangelism are activities best carried out in a community context, Fellowship Groups provide that context. They are gatherings of 10-14 people meeting in individual's homes in Tallahassee on a weekly basis. In Fellowship Groups, people come to know God and to experience His presence, community is developed and fostered, and people are nurtured, equipped and released for God's work in the world. They provide an opportunity for intimacy, mutual support, practical love and service, learning about the Christian faith, prayer, and sharing of what we see God doing in our midst. They are led by trained lay-leaders from the congregation who are given on-going support and oversight by an elder and pastor.
Fellowship Groups at Four Oaks
Fellowship groups are the primary place for pastoral care at Four Oaks. Churches do one of two things: They either practice systematic care and encouragement of the congregation or systematic neglect of the congregation. Our network of fellowship groups is the means through which we seek to practice the former. While some congregations may have small groups, we want our congregation to BE small groups. Our network of Fellowship groups serve as the nervous system of our church and are the 'hands and feet' of our pastoral ministry, an extension of the calling that the pastors and elders are to exercise in their care of the flock.
In them, the gospel is used to motivate people towards a richer relationship with God. In them, the gospel is used a balm to apply to the wounds we incur in this broken world. In them, the gospel is used to call and motivate people into the service of God's kingdom: In response to God's grace, people are urged to develop lives of moral beauty, integrity and other-centeredness and to discover and use their gifts to carry out ministry both within the congregation and to the world.
Though the Bible does not command us to organize small group ministry, it does presuppose that a significant relational life exists within the church. Where this does not happen naturally, the church must cultivate it. Fellowship groups are Four Oaks' chosen means of cultivating that relational life. Because of their foundational role in the life of our church, we ask that all of our covenant members be a part of a Fellowship Group.
In short, Fellowship Groups are the front-line of pastoral care at Four Oaks. Each member of a Fellowship Group can be intimately cared for by a trained and loving group leader. Those group leaders, in turn, are nurtured and supported by an Elder who is experienced and able to mentor and care for at most three-five group leaders. Each pastor, in turn, works with the 3-4 elders and their specific Fellowship Groups as part of his oversight of a particular geographical community. The distance from any person in a Fellowship Group directly to a pastor is therefore only two short steps. Even in a church of 2,000 or more, everyone can be as personally cared for as if they were in a small church of ten.
You are considered a part of the geographical community (North, South, or West) in which your Fellowship Group resides. Your fellowship group leader will communicate with you regarding who your specific elder and pastor will be that will oversee your group. While your fellowship group leader will be your primary shepherd and care giver, your pastor and elder are spiritual authorities and resources for you.