Our life group started with an email to the church asking if there were any Life Groups in South East Edmonton. The answer was, “not that we know of, but if we hear something, we’ll let you know!” About a year later my husband Zach and I invited a couple to our home along with Zach’s friend and his fiancé. Between the three families there were four shiftwork schedules to navigate, a baby on the way, an upcoming wedding, and unique faith challenges to wrestle through, but we did it together! We managed to meet once a month for almost two years. During that time one of the guys invited friends from his Edmonton EMS platoon to join us. Then COVID hit just as we’d met as an expanded group of eight for the first time. Meeting online was our only option for a while. Fast forward to the fall months and we made the decision to watch church together as many Sundays as our shifts allowed. The day we decided to make the change we shared how deeply each of us needed relational connects more often. Whether online or in person (usually a mix of both) we needed to worship with people again. I made the invitation to our group to share about how doing life together has shaped our faith and if it’s been worth the effort to make time for each other. So I guess you could say we began as strangers looking for connection beyond the Sunday morning hi’s and hello’s and have ended up as a mini church family within the Sherwood Park Alliance Church community. Life in groups, for us, is one of those Skype calls worth making. connection groups