Jesus commanded His disciples to go into all the world and make “disciples”. We believe this mandate is for our church. COTH started Life Groups with the idea of building “Connection” within our church family. While Life Groups have accomplished this, we believe the Lord is leading us to take our groups to a deeper level and focus on making disciples.

The word “Disciple” simply means - one who engages in learning through instruction from another. In other words, a Disciple is a person that follows Jesus. Who can lead or host a Harvest Group? Harvest Groups are led and hosted by volunteer leaders who have been trained to disciple others. They will lead the group by facilitating discussions and help members grow spiritually as well as connect relationally. We don’t expect our leaders to be Bible experts, but to be able to help people apply Biblical truths. We are typically looking for people who love to lead and care for others. Leaders are required to attend training, complete an application, be interviewed by a staff pastor and be a member of COTH. What is the difference between a Harvest Group Leader and Harvest Group Host? The Harvest Group Leader will be responsible for leading the group, which includes discipling the members, preparing for the meeting, facilitating the discussion, etc. The Harvest Group Host will be responsible for providing a comfortable environment for people to meet in (possibly their home), coordinate food, etc. Each Harvest Group will need both functions covered and the same person/couple can perform both functions.

The Fall Harvest Group semester will start on Sunday, September 10 and end Saturday, November 18 (10 weeks).

Not at all. Harvest Groups are a place where Christians and non-Christians alike can explore Jesus and His teachings together. We encourage you to invite your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. to attend.

Jesus’ command was to go into all the world and make disciples, so our hope is that we will have people who do not attend COTH as part of our Harvest Groups.

Most groups will meet weekly in homes, but you can meet at a coffee shop or at the church. You may choose the time your group meets but we are guessing the majority of our groups will meet in the evening.

Not necessarily. Although we ask each Harvest Group to have a God centered discussion and prayer at every meeting, a Harvest Group can be a special interest group (like zumba or knitting) where the special interest is the attraction. Harvest Groups is about “Discipleship”.

Each Harvest Group has a life of its own. We invite groups to participate in living life together in the context of the things Christ has called us to. Each Harvest Group will have a discussion time, prayer time and fellowship time (with food). The main purpose of the Harvest Group is “Discipleship”. We hope the members of the Harvest Group will find opportunities to connect outside of the Harvest Group meeting and serve the community with projects, go hiking, meet for coffee, etc.

Harvest Groups vary in size from three to twelve people.

Yes, child care is provided for free on Sunday Nights (5:30 – 8:00) and Wednesday nights (6:30-9:00) for Harvest Groups. To accommodate this, children will need to be registered in advance. Child care is only available to those 5th grade and under.

Experience always helps, but you have to start somewhere. If you’ve never led or hosted a group, we would encourage you to pray about it, talk with some friends who might want to be in your group and get in touch with us. We will do everything we can to equip and prepare you for success.

We like to give our groups the ability to choose what they study or discuss. Sermon based studies are always available, or you can choose from an approved list of books/DVD’s. For our first season, we will strongly encourage all groups to be sermon based. As we launch Harvest Groups, this will help keep us aligned and also allows groups to really engage with the vision and direction of the church.

Harvest Groups are for everyone! The Harvest Group discussions will be open to anybody who wants to be part of the discussion. At one point, even Pastor David was a novice at the Bible (yes, he may have been 2, but he still was a novice) so everybody will be able to understand where you are coming from.

A list of Harvest Groups will be available online at our church website (www.churchoftheharvest.org). You will be able to select a Harvest Group based on several criteria including location, type, night, etc. The list of Harvest Groups will be available a couple of weeks prior to the launch.

Unless your specific Harvest Group requires it (i.e. book study) we do not anticipate Harvest Groups to cost you any money. You may, however, be asked to bring refreshments as being part of the group, which then may require a little investment on your part.