Tuesday night services are a fantastic corporate gathering for teaching and worship, but the large group size is less conducive to intimate, interpersonal expressions of Christian faith. Home Groups are gatherings of smaller numbers of people who call TNLC their church home, and they represent a place in our community to be known and to know others, to be cared for and to care for others, and to become a community being changed by God.
Vision
Upon reading the Scriptures that speak of the early church, the centrality of community and relationships jump off the pages. Healthy followers of Jesus will have a network of other believers around them. Like every healthy relationship in our lives, community in the church involves both giving and receiving.
To this end, Home Groups provide an opportunity for those who call TNLC their church home to create and experience community with others. Our groups meet Sunday nights from 6-8 pm in people’s homes. While each group has a unique personality to it, we all engage the same 3 rhythms: sharing a meal together, sharing life updates and praying for each other, and sharing conversation based on teaching and content from TNL.
Values
TNLC Communities
TNLC is committed to the expression of God’s Kingdom in Denver, and we promote partnership with other churches and ministries. We know that many people from other churches join us on Tuesday nights due to the excellence of the music and teaching. However, we are unable to adequately care for everyone who walks in the doors of a Tuesday night. As Home Groups are a primary place where people are cared for at TNLC, we want people to be here as their church home, not just checking things out or participating in multiple churches.
Geographic Communities
We hope to see Christian community develop within already existing geographic communities. If you prefer brunch at the Bull and Bush Pub, a gathering at the Atomic Cowboy, or pizza from Big Bill’s, it’s nice to have our neighborhood loves intersect with our church life. We dream of groups where our kids attend the same schools, we cross paths with each other out at our favorite local coffee shop, and we live close enough to share our possessions as part of our sharing community. We hope to eventually have a home group within 10 minutes of everyone who calls TNL their church home.
Christ in Common
As opposed to friendships or other relationships, we believe that Christian community is what Jesus had to die to make possible. Therefore, our groups are centered on one primary affinity: “Christ in common.” While many churches create separate small groups for men and women, different age groups, singles, married people, or families with kids, we believe Christian community means that we all have perspectives and practices to give to and receive from one another. Therefore Home Groups are intentionally mixed gender and mixed stage of life.
Shared Life and Shared Growth
We want our Home Groups to become the natural relationships we share our lives with. We will celebrate new marriages or new births together. We will mourn lost jobs or lost relationships together. We will help each other move, bring each other meals when needed, and help each other finally get the deck built in the backyard. When we have doubts, hard questions, or spiritual blind spots, we count on others in our community to partner in our development and transformation. When the Scriptures speak of smaller gatherings of believers, the image that emerges is that of both shared life and shared growth, through the intentionality and commitment of those who make up our Home Groups.
To Find and Join a Group
If TNLC is or is becoming your church home and you would like to join a Home Group in your area, look at our Home Group Map to find the group nearest to you. You can also go to our Join a Group page where you can find a list of groups and their leaders. Call or email the Home Group leader in your area directly and they can tell a bit more about the group, including when and where the group meets. If you still have questions about Home Groups in general, contact Community Pastor Brian Gray.
Home Group Leadership
Plurality in leadership is a part of the DNA of TNL, from our pastors and elders down to our Home Groups and teams. We want each of our Home Groups to be co-lead by a team that shares the responsibilities which make our groups happen: hosting, administration, and facilitation. Our Home Group leaders are one of the most valuable resources of our church, but they are also limited resources. We are always interested in developing new leaders to help co-lead groups in existing neighborhoods or in new neighborhoods around the metro area.
If the vision of our Home Groups captures your interest and you would like to know more about learning how to lead a group in the future, contact Community Pastor Brian Gray at (303) 422-3777 ext 327.
March at TNL
Tuesdays
Mar 2 Wholly Jesus: Relational Wholeness
Mar 9 Wholly Jesus: Cultural Wholeness
Mar 16 Wholly Jesus: Material Wholeness
Mar 23 Wholly Jesus: Psychological Wholeness
Mar 30 Wholly Jesus: Spiritual Wholeness; Communion
Habitat for Humanity Build
TNL has partnered with other local churches to build a home with Habitat for Humanity for Khalid and Nadia Mahmoud. Khalid and Nadia emigrated from Sudan and Pakistan, they met in Denver, and started a family with twin daughters Safaa and Duaa. Khalid is pursuing his license to practice medicine and Nadia works as a triage coordinator. Their new home is a part of a nationally recognized transit-oriented green community located at Colorado and I-25. The community will be 24 townhomes housing families from 11 different countries and 56 children.
TNL has committed to have 80 volunteers give one day on the site and 100 supporters give $90.00 in partnership with the build. Upcoming build dates are March 26-27 and April 28-29.
- To sign up to build with TNL and Habitat for Humanity, visit the Volunteer Hub.
- To support the Habitat Build financially, please make your payment to “TNL” and designate “HFH” in the note section of your direct deposit or check. (All donations may be placed in buckets at TNL or sent to: TNLC, 3220 South Acoma Street, Englewood, CO, 80110.)
- If you have questions about how you can be involved with the Habitat build please contact Jason Meyer.
Forty Hours: Spiritual Retreat
Sometimes only in the silence can we truly hear. Make time this Lenten season for Forty Hours, a spiritual retreat set in silence. Forty Hours is Friday through Sunday, March 26-28, at the Highlands Retreat Center near Lyons, CO. Cost for the weekend is only $75 for housing, meals, and program. Registration forms are available online and at the Information Table in the Main Lobby.
Contemplation and Creation Space at Acoma
This year during Lent we want to share our experiences as a community through an interactive project. A contemplation and creation space at Acoma has been designated for you to meditate, write, and share on your experience as you journey through Lent. As each individual contributes, a collaborative Lenten story will emerge. In addition, visual artists are asked to contribute pieces—paintings, photographs, drawings, etc.—representing their journey through the Lenten season. We ask that you would consider spending 30 minutes, sometime over the course of the next 40 days, visiting this space and participating in this project as individually and communally we look forward to the celebrated resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you have questions, contact Jared Mackey.
Easter Gathering & Dinner
This year we will celebrate baptism during our Easter Gathering & Dinner on Sunday, April 4, at 6:00pm at Greenwood Community Church. If you have never been baptized before, consider participating in this special service. The service is a celebration of how God has changed individual lives and offered restoration to the entire world. Those interested in being baptized need to attend a brief informational class following TNL in the Chapel on Tuesday, March 23. Contact Chip for details. |
