Anthem Ventura is part a family of churches helping people find their way back to God. The Anthem family of churches is united around shared mission, vision, values, and submission to the Lordship of King Jesus. In our cities, we are working to obey Jesus in helping people find their way back to God.
CORE Groups
Groups of 3-4, gender specific groups, growing in intentional discipleship, accountability, and encouragement.
What is a core group?
We are called to be apprentices of Jesus – to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus would do if he were me. Everything else should flow from that. Instead of placing our discipleship on a list waiting to be checked off, we apply our discipleship to all of life. It is how we do everything on the list and off, it’s how we live.
A CORE group is 3-4 people, gender-specific that will meet regularly for the purpose of accountability, discipleship, encouragement, and cultivation of a lifestyle of apprenticeship to Jesus.
How do i join a core group?
The best way to get into a CORE Group, is to join an Anthem Community. Once in an Anthem Community join or find 3-4 others to begin meeting with.
There are three primary aspects to CORE groups:
Confession → sharing struggle and sin, victory and praise. (Galatians 6v2)
As leaders, we need to be the first to be vulnerable. True heart change, trust and knowing each other can not happen without vulnerability. We believe each soul was created with a need to be known and loved. Here we go beyond the behavior and confess and share the heart posture, false beliefs and sinful desires behind our behavior. We challenge the lie “if anyone really knew me no one would love me.”, and believe our brothers and sisters in Christ will embrace and rejoice with our confession. We bring dark things to light and in doing so, we rob them of their power over us. We, together, place them at the feet of Jesus.
Key questions → What are you struggling with? How have you seen the power of God at work this week?
Reading → trusting the Scriptures for transformation. We are listening together to the truth of Jesus from His word. (2 Timothy 3v16–17)
We build each up with the truth of God’s word. God is so good to us, it’s hard to believe sometimes. Having those we know and trust speak the truth of God’s word into our hearts, souls and mind are like streams of living water pouring into us. We build each other up in love with the Scriptures; we speak life, faith, love, identity, and truth over each other. We remind each other the amazing truths of God, us and His goodness. We fight for each other in the face of unbelief, doubt, and fear.
Key questions → What Scripture are you reading? What is the Holy Spirit teaching you?
Encouragement → offering prayer, wisdom to give courage for the days and weeks ahead. (Hebrews 10v23-25)
We pray for courage and faith in each other's lives. We pray for a realization and reliance on the Spirit's leading. We pray against the voice of the enemy. We pray for those in our lives who do not know Him. We pray for strength to apply the heart posture and action needed to live out the love of Christ in our unique situations. Prayer is our life source to Christ, in a community dedicated to each other and to Him, the power of prayer can not be overstated.
Key questions → How can we pray for you? What do you need courage for today?