The Transformative Power of Small Groups: Our Journey to Community

I will never forget walking into a small group for the very first time and they were playing the Five Love Languages as their series at that point. Because I always knew marriage was our passion & purpose, I was lit on fire for that.

You see, that day was the 1st time we checked out this church and the pastor was talking about people needing to be in small groups if they are wanting to grow spiritually.

I had no idea what that was at the time so I told Sandy we needed to check that out. We were home at 330 pm that day on their website looking for one in our area. Most started at 5 PM so we knew we could go if we found one.

We called several but no answers then called one and the person on the phone said yes we are starting in a few minutes as they start at 4 PM. I said great we will be there as it was only a few blocks from our home.

I had a hard time convincing Sandy to go as she didn’t want to show up to something she knew nothing about and would be going on before we get there.

So there we were watching the 1st part of The Five Love Languages and I loved it. I loved what all this was saying and everything.

After it was over, we got a chance to really start to get to know this new community of people we would later call friends. I think there were around 10-15 people there.

Each week, we looked forward to going to this group and we were starting to grow as a couple big time. This was all new to us as we never were involved in a community like this.

This group for us lasted 2 years before most people moved away and what was left just could not keep it together. It was such a sad thing to end for us.

After that through the next few years we were involved in several more small groups and we did love those too but nothing compared to the closeness we were with all the people in our 1st small group.

They always say your 1st small group you check out will probably not be the one you stick around with for many years but it was for us.

We learned so much from every small group we were in. We are not in right now as we have been in a season with 2 kids, 12 year old son and 5 year old daughter.

We have missed that kind of community and feel in 2025, its time to grow again in one because we feel our daughter is getting to the age where the childcare at a group would be fine now.

We have been a huge believer in small groups and always recommend to people they should be in one too. You see if you are in a big church, it sometimes can feel so big but the way for you to feel community is the small groups. They work to help make the church feel smaller.

Some of the people you meet in small group can become lifelong friends, some can be friends for just a season but either way, if you go all in with a small group to grow towards God and actually participate with the people in the group, this can be a life changing time in your life!

So, if you’ve been thinking about getting involved in a small group or returning to one, I encourage you to take that step. Embrace the opportunity to connect with others, share your experiences, and grow in your faith together. You never know how much you might gain or how deeply you might impact someone else’s life along the way. Remember, the journey of faith is not meant to be walked alone; it’s meant to be shared.

Let’s make 2025 a year of growth and connection—together!

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Chris Benton

I am co-founder of Inspired Marriage. I went through 19 years of addictions until God healed me Dec 26th, 2007. The first 5 years of our marriage was hell because of my addictions. With Sandy's patience, I was able to allow God to work in me and we have been growing spiritually together ever since! Oct 5th, 2023 was 21 years of marriage and it's been an inspired one!