Meeting new friends as adults is hard. My dad always told me, “If you want to find good friends, go to church.” Because of this, I started attending Plainfield Christian Church. My husand, Aaron, and I met in a small group at PCC back in 2015. Since then, we have been a part of several different small groups, home groups, different churches, and Bible studies, but we never were able to really make those deep connections we were looking for. When we started attending PCC again, I was so excited to join a Rooted Group in hopes to find some new friends and be reignited with a fire for God. Aaron was hesitant because this seemed like just another small group, but his hesitation quickly went away after our first group meeting.
Learning about the people in our Rooted Group, we quickly made connections such as many of us having young children, what we did for work, a collective love for Disney, etc. As the weeks went on our connections grew deeper as we learned we had much more in common such as grief from losing close family members, struggling marriages, and the importance of us becoming good examples to our families of how to follow Jesus. I was so excited to share with this group that Aaron and I were expecting our second child after over a year of trying to grow our family. We were surprised that another couple in our group had a similar journey and were expecting as well. Aaron and I left the group that night saying to each other, “I think we found our people”.
Around the 5th week of our Rooted Group study, Aaron and I experienced something we never thought would happen, we lost our baby at 10 weeks. This news couldn’t wait until we met again, so Aaron sent a message to our group. Instantly we received so many heartfelt messages, prayers, and even gifts and food showing up at our door. Not only did our Rooted Group show up for us, so did other members of the church. The support we received through one of the most difficult times in our life made us both speechless. We truly saw the love of God through these people, the hands and feet of the body of Christ took care of us when we couldn’t take care of ourselves. Through this tragedy, God answered our prayers for community.
Going through that experience did light a fire in us to be a part of PCC’s new mission: Fully Alive with Jesus, in community, and on mission. Aaron started volunteering with the Technology Team and I started volunteering with the Perfect Fit Ministry. Others in our Rooted Group now serve in different areas at the church as well and we are planning a service project to do together.
Since Rooted has come to an end, our friendships have continued to grow. Meeting each week in fellowship and study has also looked like celebrating one of our group members getting baptized, having game nights, attending the kids’ birthday parties, going to Worship night together, traveling to Ohio for an Elevation Worship concert, and many more plans in the works.
Throughout this journey of searching for new friends, we have found so much more. Our family is excited to go to church every Sunday to learn and grow closer to Jesus. Mine and Aaron’s marriage has grown as we work through struggles together and in our small group. Our daughter, Aurora (4), now prays at mealtimes and bedtimes and loves talking about what she is learning at church. We have made even more connections with others in the church and feel like PCC is the place for us.
