Grace Group Ministry

WHAT IS A GRACE GROUP?

The aftermath of hurricane Katrina left victims asking a lot of questions, not at all unlike the questions asked by victims of abuse: Why did this happen to me? Who is to blame? Where was God? What is going to happen to me now? Will I ever recover from this? How long will it take?

We have been on a rescue and recovery operation since our first groups formed in the late 1980's. We understand what it means to be overwhelmed by the needs and not have the capacity needed to respond to the desperation that surrounds us. But in Grace Groups, we see significant recovery taking place and are filled with hope.

The church is the organism created by God to minister truth and love, and this is the function of a Grace Group ministry. The truth cannot be sidestepped. It must be presented to victims in such as way that they acknowledge what has happened to them and see that within the context of the love of Christ, they can become whole as they deal with the issues and events which have numbed them to life. A major breakthrough comes when a victim can call evil, evil, and good, good (Isaiah 5:20).

"Building up one another in love" is a group process - group because people need others to confront and support them; process because healing takes time. People cannot grow in Christlikeness when they are unable to reach out to others and accept their support. This is another reason why surface-level counseling to "forgive and get on with your life" is not only ineffective, but damaging. The truth is that wounds occur in the context of relationship and trust is smashed. For healing to occur something must happen to reverse that damage: trust in the context of relationships - the aim of a Grace Group.