From Strangers To Spiritual Family

On a Monday night in October of 2017, five couples walked into a room as strangers. They weren’t quite sure what to expect as they met for their first Small Group together, but nearly a year and a half later, these five couples have all found something invaluable. Today, Stewart Pearcy shares how this group of strangers became spiritual family and how God is now using them to influence the lives of others.

“In a step of faith, my wife and I joined a Small Group with four other couples—all strangers. We had all decided to put ourselves out there and sign up for Values 301. Some of us had been in a Small Group before, others had barely even been to church and had no clue what to expect. Some were lifelong followers, others were brand new, but our backgrounds didn’t matter. We were each there for the same reason: to grow our relationship with God.

It didn’t take long to be able to tell that there was something unique about our group. Despite all of our different backgrounds, all of our pasts, and all of our stories, we were all so similar. We were all around the same age, we all had kids, we all had similar interests, we all had brokenness, and we all wanted more. Each of us took a leap to open up to these strangers and truly go all-in with each other.

Over the course of the next year and a half, we went from being strangers to friends, and friends to spiritual family.

We stuck together through thick and thin. From marriages on the brink of collapse, to birthday parties and anniversaries, fertility issues and life-threatening hospital visits, late night phone calls and textathons, to baptisms for entire families. We are always there for one another, like a true family.

We went together through 301, Who Am I?, and Freedom before we all took a giant step out to lead our own groups. Each of us have led our own Freedom groups and 301 groups.

Now all five of couples are leading Beyond groups.

I don’t know where we would be today without one another after seeing the impact that our Small Group had on each of our lives. We are taking what we learned from each other, and everything we have been through together, to help us lead and disciple other couples. Doing life in circles has not only transformed how we do life together but also how we do life with the new members of our spiritual family.”

—Stewart Pearcy

As we near the finish line of our Beyond journey together, this story is a great reminder of the power of what God does through Small Groups. God created us to walk alongside others in the context of spiritual family—we are hard-wired to do life together!