Core Group Guide

Helping one another grow in our love relationship with God and one another through obedience to Christ and sharing His Word together.

  • A Core Group (CG) is a group of 3-5 men or women from the same Lifegroup who meet together regularly to engage in our Core Questions and pray together as you discern what the Spirit is saying. In this safe, confidential space people can grow in their love relationship with God and in love toward one another through a trusting obedience to Christ and sharing of His Word together.

    New Lifegroup members will join an existing Core Group. If a group consistently has 6 members, the members create two groups between them.

    While a discipleship group like this could take different forms, our Core Groups follow a simple format that promotes depth, vulnerability, and space to hear God through one another. With this in mind, we expect to experience and grow in Jesus as we do life together. If your group would like to include more content to grow alongside, consider using one of our Discipleship Pathways to supplement your time together.

    If you are going to be facilitating a Core Group or training others to facilitate a Core Group meeting, check out our CoreGroup Facilitator’s Training!

  • To grow in our love relationship with God together, we must have the opportunity to know each other deeply. At your first meeting, each person should spend up to 15 minutes sharing a few significant parts of their life journey (family of origin, significant others, faith background, etc.). The Core Group Facilitator should go first to set the tone for honest sharing in the group. Minister to one another through prayer and encouragement after each person shares.

    Set the expectation for future meetings by casting vision for what will help the group be successful through discussing the Core Group Tips.

  • Be Consistent Make Core Group a priority. Show up ready to share and engage thoughtfully when others share.

    Be Considerate Share with awareness of the time so everyone has space. Listen without planning your response. Gently ask clarifying questions, and avoid interrupting, advising, or fixing.

    Be Courageous Share honestly and as vulnerably as you are comfortable. When listening, humbly reflect back emotions you hear, encourage with openness to feedback, and maintain a growth mindset.

    Be Compassionate Allow those who hear you to have honest reactions as they learn how to listen with empathy. Be fully present as others share. Listen with empathy, extend the forgiveness found in Christ, and celebrate the grace of God at work in one another.

    Be Confidential Keep what is shared within the group as appropriate. When safety, abuse, or legal responsibilities require action, communicate your intention to pursue the person’s greatest good.

Meet

Each person should briefly share share something they are thankful to God for.
Open in prayer. Bless and thank God for who He is and welcome Him into your time together.

Engage

Each person takes 10-15 minutes to share from the Core Questions below in any order with space for clarifying questions and silence to listen to the Lord.
Save any advice for later to prioritize a dependency on God’s leading.

  • Look Up
    How have you been spending time with God? What has God been speaking to you?

    Look In
    What do you need to confess, share vulnerably, or bring into the light?

    How are you succeeding or struggling to follow through on your current steps to obey Jesus?

    Look Out
    Who are you praying for and intentionally investing in so they come to know Jesus more?

    Response
    What specific step of obedience is Jesus inviting you to take next?

Pray

Spend time in silence to allow the sharer to listen to God for themselves and the listeners to listen to God for the sharer so that you might experience Him together.

If this is a challenge for you, consider the starting points for you. Be bold knowing that the group supports you and will help you not

  • Listen to the Lord by pausing to ask the question, “God, what do you want me to know?”

    Write down His response by writing, “[Your name], I want you to know…”

    Share what you sense with others. If the group senses the Lord in it, respond to the Lord with a statement of your own: “God, I will…”

  • Listen attentively to the sharer. When they finish, pause to ask, “God, what do you have to share here from Your Word?”

    You may “hear” God in the form of:

    • a passage from the Bible

    • encouragement for person

    • A picture or visual image that comes to mind

    • something that you see as very random.

    Courageously share what you hear with the sharer while also humbly allowing the group to reflect on what you hear.

    If something resonates with the person or the group agrees with, pray it over them with a few short sentences.

Pray to close your time together and continue to carry one another in prayer and practical support until next time.

Looking for more?

Need more?

  • If your Core Group wants to grow in a particular area, choose a Discipleship Pathway and jump in wherever fits your group. Take a first step, work through a resource together, and use the pathway’s Be Known: Accountability Questions to encourage honest sharing and accountability. Include any Core Questions above as helpful.

    Got to Discipleship Pathways