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BEING BIARS
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​Our Ministry Goals & Strategy

For many churches in America, the 'center' of church life is the Sunday morning service. Over time, once the preaching is sharp enough, the sound system loud enough, and crowd consistent enough, the church will begin to more intentionally encourage its congregants to get involved with other church programs such as small groups, volunteering, etc. 

At Antioch, we like to say that we aren't a church with small groups, but that we are a church made up of small groups. Our small groups (which we call lifegroups) that meet in homes throughout the week are truly the center of  where church happens. 
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In a practical sense, this means our strategy is to focus on our lifegroups and grow from there. ​Some ministry people describe this as being a 'cell-based' church.  We're beginning our church with 2 or 3 community groups according to life stage (college, young adult, family) that each meet on a weekly basis. As we live our day-to-day lives and meet people in the city, visiting a lifegroup is the go-to invitation that we extend. And once living rooms get too crowded, we split lifegroups in half to create then two separate lifegroups, which continue to grow and multiply from there (like a cell!). The emphasis is that every lifegroup reflects the values described in Acts 2:42-47. 

Our aim is to disciple every person that's involved in a lifegroup - meaning to meet with them on a consistent basis outside of lifegroup night to more specifically help them grow in their faith. It is often in this even smaller group setting that people feel safe to open up about their struggles and find the personal breakthroughs that they've been longing for. That much has proven to be true not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of so many that we've had the honor of investing in. 
​In these initial stages, we'll gather as a corporate church every couple of weeks in order to foster a common vision and unity, but we won't begin a weekly church service until our lifegroups are healthy and thriving. Our hope is to reach this point by the end of our first semester, beginning weekly church services in the spring of 2020. ​

Looking a bit further out, our goal is that within 3-5 years, we are a fully-functioning and self-sustaining church comprised of hundreds of people that are 'all-in' for following Jesus their entire lives. Our intention is to be deeply rooted and knit into Northwest Arkansas, and actively fulfilling the mission God has called us to. For us, this means that individuals find salvation and wholeness through faith in Jesus, that half-hearted Christians jump into total commitment to the purposes of God, and that the same continues to happen both overseas and locally through missions, church-planting, and everyday discipleship. 

To put it simply, our vision and mission is to obey the First Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission in our generation! 
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Thank you for taking the time to visit Being Biars! This website exists primarily as an outlet for us to communicate about our personal lives and ministry. The content you'll find here is written by us and given from our vantage point - we speak solely on our own behalf and thus our words should not be considered as representative of our entire church or network. As always, if you'd like to connect or talk more, don't hesitate to reach out!
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