Godly Gossip

Godly Gossip

Godly Gossip – odd name, but what is it and what happens?   Well, we are a group of women from young mums to retirement age who are also at very different stages of our Christian journeys.  Although we have a range of experience, none of us would say we were expert, and we meet about every 6- 8 weeks to share fellowship, talk about our lives and our faith, and learn from one another.  There are about 15 in the group at the moment, and each meeting someone volunteers to host the meeting in her own home, and someone else leads the group using books we all agree to work from.

The aim of the evening is to be able to relax among friends and discuss openly different topics relating to the Bible and all other aspects of our faith.  We start with a fairly simple meal, with everyone making a small donation towards the host’s costs, and we each bring along what we’d like to drink.  A couple of glasses of wine for the non-drivers usually gets the evening off to a good start!  We use that time to catch up with each other’s lives - this is the ‘gossip’ part of the evening.  After the meal we discuss the topic for the evening under the guidance of the volunteer leader or leaders.  We finish with prayers and fix the next date; we ask for volunteers for hosting and leading, but there’s no pressure on anyone to take on either job until they feel comfortable doing so.

The group has now been running for about four years, and in that time we have explored a number of topics, including Women in the Bible; Faith in the Workplace; Great Prayers of the Bible; and the Holy Spirit.  The great thing about Godly Gossip is that there is a real mixture of people and we all feel comfortable and safe expressing our views.  There is a confidentiality about the evening which means you can be happy to say what you think and feel as you know you will not be judged.  The mixture of people also means you are often offered a different point of view to your own, which can help clarify your thinking.  Or at least you realise that other people are in the same boat that you are!

It’s a very joyful (and sometimes raucous!) group, and we always welcome new people.  If you are interested in coming along maybe just to one meeting to see if it’s right for you, we’d love to see you - please get in touch with Kate Blake for further information - 020 8954 1753, or tonykate@globalnet.co.uk