In April of 2016, both of our active Refuge groups had grown and were going to do our best to multiply those into four groups. Kyle & Bethany Stadalman were going to host one of the new groups on Tuesday evenings. Both of our new groups eventually got started, and yet both experienced some frustration within the first several months.
“We decided on 5pm, Tuesday evenings, and we thought we had enough interest early on that could make that time work well, but it slowly became a time when just one other family and ours would show up. Some weeks, nobody would show up. It was frustrating,” Bethany acknowledged as we talked on the phone this week to prepare for this article.
This frustration turned to fuel as Bethany shared that she and Kyle had a conversation and discussed changing times. They began to ask individuals who had showed interest in their group if they changed their time by 30 minutes, to start at 5:30pm, if that would work for them? With some great affirmation, they have received some renewed energy as two other families have returned to the group since making the switch.
“The Refuge group keeps me accountable,” Bethany shared, “as it is one more time carved out of my week to get into God’s Word.” This also led to the frustration when she admitted, “When nobody would show up, I was not getting my time with God and community.”
The other big reason Bethany is all in with our RefugeGroups is, “we get deeper relationships as we get to know each other and pray for each other in groups. It’s not just surface-level like we might get Sunday morning.”
Thanks Bethany & Kyle for staying flexible as you help us plant God’s church in this region!