St GIles Church ran a course named Focus which met on a Wednesday evening for church attendees who wanted to learn more about their faith. I seem to recall that it was cyclical in that it had 'additions' joining from time to time and was often the next step from the church run Alpha course. The previous intake was Easter 2015.
In January 6th 2016 we (some of the house group members) joined the Focus Course. Here is a quote that outlined the intention of the course:
"The course runs up until Easter and this term we will be looking at the Bible, prayer and sharing our faith. The format for the evening is fairly simple. We start with refreshments. Then have a short time of worship, followed by a talk on the topic for the evening. We then split into discussion groups to talk in more depth about the topic and how it applies to our lives, finishing at around 9.15."
When we joined there were about 25 or so people attending and as indicated about were were split into discussion group and the discussion group that I joined developed into what was to be the HJ House Group.
As time moved towards Easter 2016 some of the participants in that discussion group expressed their wish to continue meeting together, the church leadership 'planted' a couple of more experienced christians into our little group with the intention of them becoming group leaders. Easter was not the end of meetings and I think we continued as 'Mini-Focus' through to the end of June 2016, after which we developed as a housegroup.
So now, some eight years on we had established places to gather each week, become comfortable with each other and our leadership and have grown in our faith. Because of our eclectic make up we have frequently followed the church notes where they have been available but we have not been afraid to cover and discuss what we call 'hard subjects' and carry out studies of our own. The house group has been for us a place where we have shared our lives together, offering comfort and support to each other as we have suffered pain and unexpected loss.
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