One HomeGroup leader wrote this: ”God has been immensely faithful this semester in providing more than we could have ever imagined in HomeGroups. Not only do they exist ;) but God is using them to grow these students in the knowledge of God and of who they are called to be as the body of Christ. Just the other week, I was at the Home Group I attend in New Berlin and in our small group I asked if there were any prayer requests they had from the week. After a few seconds pause, one of the girls asked another girl in our group about a prayer request she had shared a couple of weeks ago. I knew it meant a lot to the girl who was asked — to be known and cared for. And for it to come from one of the students was just a beautiful testimony to God’s blessing and growth in our students’ hearts.”

“One student in particular was brought to the Christmas party by her grandma. It was pretty obvious that she wasn’t too excited about being there. After I got her connected with the Menomonee Falls group (which she had attended once), the students were so inviting and were excited to see her there. She had a smile on her face the rest of the night. It was so cool to see her change in attitude because of the community of the group!!”

The College-age Ministry is excited to be launching a new Home Group in the Brookfield area. We have a small, but very passionate and committed, group of college-age students who long to reach their friends. They had a party a few weeks ago to invite their friends and will be having a few more gatherings over the holidays. We are excited about this open door in Brookfield. – College-age Ministry staff member

We are continuing to see new college students who don’t have a church family showing up at our groups every week. The Home Group has provided a place where the students can “belong”, and it’s creating communities of people who care for each other.

Here’s a vision video we completed recently:

• “Across our whole ministry, God has been using our students to reach others who are lonely, hurting, depressed, and forgotten on their campuses. Many students have told us that these groups are the first place where they’ve found friends who actually care about them. God is not only drawing these students to our groups, but His presence is being made known on campuses through some of our students. Numerous students have approached students from some of our home groups because they know and have heard from others that these people listen, care, and want to help them through their struggles.” – College-age Ministry intern

• “Recently, one of our home groups organized a service project for packing Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes. Students came with all kinds of items that they wanted to give. The HomeGroup packed up a total of 76 boxes for Operation Christmas Child!” - High School HomeGroup leader

• “My daughter attends the Middle School Ministry at Elmbrook Church. She has had a hard year with friendships, and it has all come to a head in the past month. In a recent conversation about friendships, she said, “I feel lonely at school, but my true friends are my church friends. They make me feel happy again.” I see a change in her demeanor when she goes to HomeGroup and ministry events. It’s good to know that she has a community of friends that share her same faith and want to encourage one another. Thank you for working so hard to create this kind of environment!” – a parent of a middle school student
• In early October we launched 10 HomeGroups for our Middle School Ministry. Everywhere we turned, we saw God moving and providing homes, snacks, leaders, and students. Each week we continue to see God move through students who freely invite their friends.
• “Students in our small groups continue to bond and grow closer to each other. Students have been confessing their sins to each other, praying bold and powerful prayers over each other, and holding each other accountable. Really cool stuff!” – Middle School HomeGroup leader
• “On Halloween we went “trick-or-treating” for the food pantry, collecting non-perishable food items instead of candy (although most of us took the candy if they offered it too). The four high school groups ended up collecting 8 full grocery bags of food in the immediate surrounding community of their HomeGroup.” -High School Ministry student