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Student Blog: Being A Care Group Leader
One of the blessings of being a student at SBC is that you get to participate in something called Care Groups.
Care Groups are like a collection of small church groups within the larger student body – a group of guys or a group of girls that meet regularly and experience together what its like to live the “student life”.
Through these times we as students are given the space to look within and reach out; We share our joys, burdens, and lives with each other while also learning and seeking to extend care and love to the different communities around us. I learned a lot about what it means to live in the community of God through being a CGL (Care Group Leader) during the last school year and I expect to learn more as a I continue in that role for the second time this year.
Being a CGL has been a stretching experience, but not always in the ways I expected. Often, we say that an experience is stretching because it leads us out of our comfort zones. This is definitely true of being a CGL – after all, I can’t honestly say that I would have chosen to talk to as many people had I not been given this role.
However, not only has being a CGL stretched me by demanding me to come out of my comfort zone, but it has also been stretching my heart. I have discovered that when I spend intentional time with people and invest in what is going on in the lives of those within my care groups, God both expands and fills my heart with more of the love that he has for these people.
“When I spend intentional time with people and invest in what is going on in the lives of those within my care groups, God expands and fills my heart with more of the love that He has for these people.”
I have learned not to fear what these relationships might require of me, because God has always fulfilled those needs and empowered me to live out the love for people that he grows within me. A lot of the fears I have had about surrendering my schedule and time for other people have ceased and are replaced with a desire for being a part of a community and playing my part within that community.
I no longer feel it is enough to just be part of God’s family – I want to be someone within the family that empowers others and encourages them on their journey with God. Through stretching me in this way, being a CGL has brought me to a place where I can more easily see the value of prioritizing people and relationships over work and results.
In this way and in many others, you can see that leading a small group of people comes with an interesting dynamic – just as I am learning and growing, I am simultaneously able to have an impact on my care group members. More simply put, I can serve in impactful ways even if I don’t always have everything figured out… I guess that can be said of more roles than just Care Group Leading. In this way, I am extremely grateful to the new students and friends in my care groups that allow me to grow and learn through being in relationship with them.
The best way I can express the essence of what I have learned through my role as a CGL is by saying that I am honored and humbled to even be used by God in my imperfect ways for the sake of his Church.
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Lisa Wiebe is a 3rd-year student at Steinbach Bible College in the Counselling Focus area.
This article is part of the upcoming Fall/Winter 2022 issue of SBC’s magazine, InTouch.
