Faithlife Blog

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5 Ways Churches Are Using Faithlife Groups

faithlifegroupsFaithlife Groups have been growing in popularity for a few years now. But if you’re new to the scene, you may find yourself wondering, “How can my church use this?”

There are lots of ways Faithlife Groups work well in small groups, and when your group encompasses your whole church, the value of that group only increases. Some churches use an assortment of features to create fellowship, and others hone in on particular tools available in Faithlife Groups.

Here are a few ways churches around the country are using Faithlife Groups right now:

1. Sharing reading plans

In October, we interviewed Pastor Jose Fernandez Jr. about his group, “Friends of Pastor Joe.” Pastor Joe uses his church’s Faithlife Group to share a reading plan, and he and his wife hop on to share Community Notes about what the group has been reading. The group reading plan provides daily reminders to read the Bible and helps Joe’s congregation keep up by adding the reading from missed days. With a Faithlife Group built around a reading plan, you have an entire community to support and encourage you as you read the Word.

2. Making announcements

Faithlife Groups provide a designated place for your congregation to interact with each other, and with your staff. I chatted with Pastor Rich from Crosspoint Community Church about how they have been using their Faithlife Group. Pastor Rich makes announcements to the church about volunteer activities, upcoming events, and resources the church would like to share with everyone. The calendar feature makes it easy to tell at a glance what events you need to know about. In one instance, someone from the congregation asked about carpooling to an event, and another member quickly responded to give them a ride. The church can also use it to pick up last-minute volunteers when they find themselves short handed. If you’re new to your congregation, it can be difficult to know how to reach out about events, volunteer activities, or things you need help with. But when your church has a Faithlife Group, your entire community can interact within the comfort and privacy of your congregation.

3. Creating prayer lists

Prayer lists are a great way to keep yourself accountable when you have things to pray about. At your church, you probably have a prayer team dedicated to praying for the needs of your church and the individual needs of your members. Whether you’re part of the prayer team or not, a prayer list can help you keep track of what to pray for each day. Once you set up a list for your church, anyone you let into your Faithlife Group can add their prayer needs to your church’s list. You can even create multiple lists for your various ministry teams and church needs. With the privacy of a Faithlife Group, you can share your prayer needs with your whole church without sharing them with the whole world.

4. Sending newsletters

Newsletters are a great tool for mass communication. With a large group like a church or a ministry, it’s not easy to keep everyone in the loop. Not everyone can be at every meeting. Not everyone gets to see the fruit of your ministry. Newsletters provide a great opportunity to show them what your church or ministry is doing and how they can continue to be involved. Faithlife Groups make it easy to design visually compelling newsletters that contain everything you need to get your message across.

5. Discussing sermons

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to chat with a local pastor who is writing his PhD dissertation on Faithlife Groups, which he suggests is the future of church communication. Pastor Bill Koogle shared how Faithlife Groups provides an opportunity to create a more interactive sermon experience—one which he believes can help the youth in his church feel more invested in his teaching. In the past, Bill’s church has sent church-wide texts asking questions and gathering input which he later uses when he writes his sermons. This provided him with a lot of great insight, but it was a fairly one-sided conversation (the text messages were automated because of the size of the congregation).

With a Faithlife Group, your church can have discussions around topics, passages, or anything else your church needs to talk about. The discussions tab in your group serves as your church’s own private message board. The entire conversation is neatly nestled into its own thread, and all your threads remain in the tab. So each week, if you want to create an interactive sermon like Pastor Bill, you can create a conversation around the topic or passage you’re going to preach from, so you can craft relevant sermons that address the greatest struggles within your church.

These are just a few of the ways that churches around the world are using Faithlife Groups right now.

Set one up for your church today.

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Does your church use Faithlife Groups? Tell us about it in the comments!

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How to Create Community Notes

The Community Notes feature is a powerful Bible study tool that’s built into the Faithlife Study Bible, Logos Bible Software, and Faithlife Groups.

They’re kind of like margin notes, only better.

When you write Community Notes, you decide who gets to see them. You can post them directly to one of your Faithlife Groups, or don’t select a group, and share them to “My Faithlife,” so all your connections can see them.

Community Notes sync across all of Faithlife’s Bible applications. That means you can make them on Bible.Faithlife.com and Biblia.com, in Logos Bible Software, and the Logos and FSB apps. Once you’ve made a note, you can see it from anywhere.

Depending on where you choose to get into the Word, making Community Notes looks a little different.

Make one in the mobile app

Here’s how to make Community Notes using the Faithlife Study Bible mobile app:

Make one on the web

Hop over to Bible.Faithlife.com or Biblia.com and follow these three easy steps to create a new note:

1. Find the passage you want

Enter the passage in the search field. If you want to make a note on the entire chapter of John 2, just type John 2; if you want to comment on a specific passage or verse, like John 2:11, enter the specific passage in the search field. The Community Note you create will attach itself to the passage in your search field—even when you change translations!

2. Go to the “notes” section and click this icon:

making_a_note
Whether you’re on Biblia.com or Bible.Faithlife.com, the notes section is the tab on the right, outlined in the red box above. To create a new note, click the icon indicated by the red arrow above.

3. Choose a Faithlife Group, write a note, and click “post”

Right below the passage you’ve selected, a drop-down menu lets you select from all of your Faithlife Groups. In the image above, I’ve selected the Community Study Bible: a user-created Faithlife Group that capitalizes on the potential of Community Notes.

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar or a pastor to create Community Notes. They’re for connecting what you know with who you know.

If you are a pastor, Community Notes can help you take better sermon notes.

Create a Community Note today! Find your favorite verse and share why it matters to you.

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Want to see Community Notes in action? Join the Community Study Bible group. Share notes or interact with the notes of others.

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Community Study Bible: A Collaborative Journey through Scripture

bibleWhen you read your Bible, study notes and other resources help you get more out of the verses. After you have time to process Scripture and think about what it means for your life, you walk away with insight you didn’t have before.

Imagine reading a Bible that was full of these insights from Christians all across the globe. A Bible packed with Community Notes where people share why particular passages have meant the most to them, connections they’ve seen with other verses, and what God has shown them through that passage.

That’s exactly what Nathan Parker envisioned when he created the Community Study Bible. It’s a Faithlife Group that let’s anyone and everyone share Community Notes on the verses and passages that mean the most to them.

If you’ve ever learned something from a verse before, this is the place to share it. If you’ve ever written or preached on a passage before, share the insight you gained. You never know who might need to hear what you have to say about a verse.

Even if you don’t feel qualified to provide insight into Scripture, your thoughts matter. Joining the Faithlife Group is like adding a whole new layer of notes to your Bible—the notes appear on the passages they’re connected to, so if you’re part of the group and someone has learned something from a passage, you’ll see it in a note icon, like this:

Community_Notes

Click the note icon to bring up the note, right within the translation you’re using. When you change Bible translations, the notes tag along—they’re connected to the verse, not the version. If there are Community Notes in the chapter you’re reading, you’ll see a note icon attached to the chapter heading—click it to see all of the Community Notes in the chapter.

When I read through my print Bibles, the notes I’ve made in the margins over the years reveal different perspectives I’ve had over time. Questions I’ve wrestled with because of a particular passage. Connections I’ve made. The Community Study Bible exposes you to the “margin notes” of other believers through interactive Community Notes.

You can respond to other people’s notes, build off their thoughts, or ask questions to get more out of the notes. And every time you do, you increase the value of the Community Study Bible to everyone else.

Get the most from the group

If you aren’t already using the Faithlife Study Bible app on your phone or tablet, download it today to have these Community Notes with you wherever you study.

Once you join the group, you can see these notes right inside your Bible when you read on bible.faithlife.com, biblia.com, the Faithlife Study Bible app, or Logos Bible Software.

You can even browse through all of the Community Notes by going to the Community Notes tab in the group itself.

The Community Study Bible group was created by users, for users. A thriving Christian community like this adds a whole new depth to your Bible study.

Join the Community Study Bible group today.

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Where Faith and Life Connect

faithlife_logo_cmyk_hToday’s interview is with Mark Prim, the Southeast Michigan Coalition for Men’s Discipleship area director for Man in the Mirror ministries. Prim helps pastors and leaders establish an intentional strategy to reach and disciple men.

How does your family use Faithlife together?

My two older sons started reading the Bible when they were six and seven. They began by reading small portions of the New Testament at a time. Three years later, they’ve read through the New Testament twice and Psalms once.

About two years ago, they both bought Kindles with money they saved from Christmas. The first app I installed was Faithlife. I created a family reading plan so we could all read the Bible at the same pace, and so my wife and I could help answer questions the boys have. With the reading plan, we can be sure we’re familiar with the passages they read so we’re ready to talk about them.

We have recently begun using Faithlife for family devotions, reading the book Experiencing God at Home Day by Day. The boys read a portion of their Bible using Faithlife, then we read the devotional, and they finish with some quiet time of reading and praying.

Why do Faithlife groups work so well for Bible studies and small groups? What features does your group use together?

Faithlife works well for small groups and Bible studies because all members are able to read the same passages and follow along the same reading plan. Not only this, but when members have questions while reading, they can post the question to the group or specifically to the leader, without waiting until the next meeting. The ability to load documents for the group to read is also a great tool when there are additional resources or information for further study. The reading plan and documents tab are the two tools we use the most.

Using Faithlife for a small group can be a little tricky at first. Since not everyone has a smartphone or tablet, it can become a divider when we try to use it as our main tool. The second challenge is that we must use the first session or two just to familiarize everyone with the functionality and power of this free study tool. Not everyone learns at the same pace, so this can become a point of stress, and it takes a little more work when someone new joins our group. However, we can overcome both of these challenges. In my experience, it’s worth it to use Faithlife for small group studies.

When individuals take the time to learn and use Faithlife, studying the Bible together truly becomes a community effort. When people have questions, thoughts, or concerns, there’s no need to wait until the next weekly or monthly meeting. If the people in your small group want to study God’s Word, and they are open to doing it from a digital source, Faithlife is a free resource that’s worth using.

What’s your favorite feature in Faithlife?

I like Faithlife as a whole. It’s a great tool for the kingdom of God! That being said, I think my favorite feature is the reading plan because it reaches across all platforms. If all the features were available across all platforms, I think Faithlife would be more widely accepted and used by churches and small groups.

Many parents are afraid to let their kids create social-media accounts. What makes Faithlife different, and why do you let your sons use it?

Faithlife doesn’t have all the foul language and advertisements. It also doesn’t have the “freedom” that other social media outlets have—the parameters of use are much more controllable. I set up and maintain my kids’ accounts.

One reason I let my sons use Faithlife is because they can study the Bible together. And we are a closed group, so no one else can join unless my wife and I approve them. Another reason is because it makes a great tool for discipleship. I can create specific reading plans based on subjects we need to discuss, and then they read not just for devotional time, but also to gain knowledge and understanding. As they get older, I will teach them more and more about how to use Faithlife.

What does Faithlife do for you that other communication tools don’t?

Faithlife provides a way for us to interact with God’s Word together. Other communication tools allow you to post different verses back and forth, but with Faithlife we can highlight verses and make community notes that our whole family can see.

Why do you think churches should use Faithlife together?

Like I said before, it makes a great tool for discipleship. With our fast-paced world and our ever-increasing reliance on technology and all things digital, this is a perfect tool to study God’s Word together. If used the right way, Faithlife can also help someone quickly catch up if they miss a small group session.

To learn more about Prim’s ministry, you can head to ManintheMirror.org.

And if you haven’t already, be sure to join Faithlife, download the free Faithlife Study Bible, and start studying Scripture in community today.

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