2:42 Groups at Barabbas Road Church in San Diego

Can you imagine a church where the entire church hears the sermons each week and actually discusses what was said and discusses how to apply the sermon to their lives? Imagine a church that not only discusses how to apply the truths of God’s Word, but actually helps each other to live out these truths. This is a big challenge for any church; however, this is something that’s very important to Barabbas Road Church. If the mission at Barabbas is to make “disciple making” disciples then hearing God’s Word and living it out is an important part of the discipleship process.

This is the reason that Barabbas Road Church in San Diego has small groups, also called 2:42 Groups. The name 2:42 Groups comes from Acts 2:42, where the early church met house to house and daily devoted themselves to four primarily things. These four things are key components to 2:42 Groups. The first component is fellowship, which is the mutual up-building of one another in the faith. The second component is the apostles teaching, which would be the sermon from Sunday’s service and the Bible. The third component is prayer, which the group is constantly praying for one another. The fourth is breaking bread, which in the context of the scripture is having communion together and is the constant reminder of the communal identity of the group, which is the broken body and the blood of Jesus Christ.

The makeup of 2:42 groups is very diverse. One of the main goals of the church is to be constantly raising leaders in these groups. Some of the 2:42 groups are family orientated, some are designed for men or for women. However, the goal is not that the groups would be homogenous, but that the groups would have people of varied age groups and backgrounds. This is important because in a 2:42 group one of the things that is done in group is breaking bread. This is a reminder that the thing that unites the group together ultimately is that the whole group has the same thing in common, which is the broken body and blood of Jesus Christ.Therefore, what a great benefit it is to have people in a group who are older and younger, who have different backgrounds and different ideas. Although the group is very diverse they are still untied in Christ and can mutually hold each other accountable and grow.

That’s the goals of the 2:42groups. Discipleship is the process of learning to live more and more like Christ. In these groups is the opportunity to build lasting relationships and encouragement as each group member shares life together. In an environment where there is accountability, love and prayer every single week, this is where discipleship happens. This is why 2:42 Groups is one of the main programs of Barabbas Rod Church in San Diego.