Friendship Initiative

 INTRODUCING THE FRIENDSHIP INITIATIVE

We find ourselves in unparalleled times. And in these times, social media platforms are what most of us have put our energy and effort in, in order to sustain relational connections with others. If we are willing to be honest with ourselves, it doesn’t take long for us to realize that social media friendships are not sufficient.

Gone are the days where we share fun pictures of our lunch, update folks on our latest work out fad, or post even casual updates about our day-to-day lives.

Social media has changed.

And if this is the place where put our energy and effort in for relationships in this season, we are going to feel the negative effects from it.

The Friendship Initiative from Grace City Eugene seeks to regain what it means to have healthy, meaningful, and biblical friendships - especially in the unique times we find ourselves in. It is an attempt to establish counter-cultural friendships in a society where friendship means less than it ever has before.

Now here’s the deal, this is not a ten-week study on friendship or anything like that. We don’t want to just talk about friendship - we want to see it experienced within our church. So we will be taking a break from our traditional Life Group model and the guided discussions based on our sermons in order to create spaces for relationships to be cultivated with one another.

We believe that the Bible prescribes friendship as means of encouragement, connection, accountability, and vulnerability. And ultimately, our goal for prioritizing friendship is not just to keep it within our church’s doors, but that it would overflow into our relationships outside of our church.

We recognize that our society is facing a relationship crisis right now, and we believe that since friendship matters to God, it should matter to us.

So here’s what a month of the Friendship Initiative looks like:

Meeting #1 - Smaller Group Gathering (3-4 people)

Meeting #2 - Smaller Group Gathering (3-4 people)

Meeting #3 - Larger Group Gathering

Meeting #4 - Special Small Group Gathering (3-4 people) (Food, Coffee, Hike, Fish, etc.)

We believe this pattern demonstrates healthy rhythms of creating close relationships in both smaller and larger groups and prioritizes relational depth and fun times spent together. Each small group will have a coordinator who helps schedule weekly gatherings and has been equipped with tools to help with conversations. This coordinator will serve as a leader in some functions, but the ultimate goal and purpose of them is to help coordinate meetings and ensure that the goals of this initiative are being met.

We recognize that everyone has varying levels of comfort in the time that they physically spend with other people, so we will be helping coordinate both in-person and virtual small groups for folks to gather in. For those who meet at in-person groups, social distancing will be practiced and everyone will have the freedom to take as much precaution as they see fit - without any judgement.

To sign up for a Summer of Friendship small group, click the button below to find the online form. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to hello@gracecityeugene.com.

We hope you will consider joining in our effort to be persistent and creative in cultivating relationships with one another.