A Fabric Group? Why Bother?
/“I liked Fabric before, but Groups is where it really started making sense and working for me.”
Why bother with a Fabric Group? It’s a fair question! Who needs one more thing to do? And more people to manage relationships and communication with? I know I don’t. Yet, I continue to hear a version of the quote above often in my role with Fabric. And I continue to bother. Here’s why.
Fabric Groups are made to work with your life.
If Sundays are where you get a sense that something new could be possible, Groups are where it starts to get real in your life. We’ve been talking Stuff that Works this fall and have had more inquiries about Groups than we have in a while. That makes sense. Because we’ve got new people, they like what they are hearing, they want to see how it can actually work in their lives and they know they need others to do that with!
Fabric Groups exist to make the Stuff That Works - work! In your real, complicated, unfolding life. Maybe there has been a Knot you need to tie around a significant change in your life this fall; or you’ve been trying to fill your Bus with people who are healthier for you and figure out how to give others less influence; perhaps you’ve been feeling more like a bucket than a Pipe or needed to get a little more honest about the healthy and unhealthy Mirrors you use to view yourself. Maybe you want to explore your God Box but haven’t had people to talk it through with!
The simple structure, intention and ongoing nature of Groups creates space where all those things can happen. And a little can go such a long way.
It’s pretty straightforward, really. People find a time and place that works to connect around the shared Fabric conversations. They take in the message in whatever format is best for them, whether in person, livestream (real time or recorded), or podcast and use the weekly Discussion Guide that offers a simple, healthy structure and focus for the 90-ish minutes you are together.
What a difference those minutes out of a week can make!
People have found ways to make Groups work for them. It's about connecting, not a box to check off or a new way to beat yourself up if you can’t make it every week. Groups are for busy people. The busier you are the more you might need that mid-week Group check in. Groups are for wonderers, wanderers, extroverts and introverts! They need and serve all kinds of us. There's room to come as you are and do the stretching that allows for new possibilities to emerge and unfurl.
Fabric Groups are ongoing and dynamic, like your life.
“To me, groups are where all 3 strands can be found. We bring ourselves, we connect with others, and our engagement creates an intangible “third thing” that we weave with our openness and willingness to be vulnerable and honest, and that we are woven into. ”
This week we turn the page to a new conversation about spiritual health, It’s Hard Not To. These conversations that matter are too big to ever finish or master. And too important to not spiral back to creatively, repeatedly and with others so they can be fleshed out in your life over time. It may seem like other Fabric folk are absorbing the messages more easily or aren't struggling with what the content means for them. It may feel like "I don't need a group, I got this." In a Group, you get regular reminders that we are all wrestling, healing, messing up, coming back, doing the best we can with what we have. And always will be. To be alive is to be growing.
And you will see that growth happening in Groups! Likely first in those around you, but then in yourself too. Over time, the common language, practicing, experiences and trust developed with the people in your Group build up alongside your personal practicing. You spiral back around to tools and perspectives with life’s new offerings and wrinkles. You start hearing things like “Hey everyone - I need my bus today.” Or “I did a brave thing this week…” You exchange messages with Fabric Group friends: “I’ve got a Care IQ situation - I need to widen my circle.” Or “I’m stuck. Can I talk through something with you for a few minutes?”
Fabric Groups weave something bigger.
We are living through some weighty and troubled times in the world. I’m guessing you’d say the same for parts of your life. And our Fabric community is in the midst of big change. Alongside our shared vision, I have deep trust in the healthy (if not always easy) relationships fostered in Groups that have carried and will carry Fabric through our leadership transition into what’s next. The significant relationships of mutual care, sharing, trust-building and growth that are forged in Groups are where our strongest weaving happens.
That world? That one that a bunch of well-woven people create together? That’s a world worth the bother. That is the world I want to live in. And we can create it together, starting now, 90 minutes at a time.
Read more about Groups here. Email Melissa for help connecting.
Every group has its own flavor. Send Melissa glimpses from your group for the gallery!
