Mary Stuart Iverson: Opening the Door

For more than a decade, our family has had the joy of hosting a Community Group—welcoming new groups and new faces into our home year after year. It has become one of the most meaningful ways my husband and I, along with our children, have grown to know people more intimately in an ever-growing church. Through our Community Group, we’ve formed relationships that span generations, and that has been a beautiful thing to behold.

Connecting outside of a large worship service has made Westside feel less like a crowd and more like a family.

Over the years, we’ve seen that family care for one another in tangible, unexpected ways. When our piano teacher moved out of state, a Community Group member who serves on the worship team offered to come to our home each week to teach our three oldest sons. During our sabbatical last year, another member invited our au pair to spend Thanksgiving with his family. We’ve shared countless overlaps with nursery and Sunday school teachers who also come from our Community Group—people who have loved our children so well. Hosting has become something we genuinely look forward to.

Like the ebb and flow of the tides, our group has always seemed to hold just the right people for the right season, meeting needs as they arise and teaching us what it looks like to truly live in community.

Truthfully, Community Group isn’t always easy—it’s often messy. We have young kids, and hosting in general can be hard, especially on a weeknight. Mondays are full: people arriving, kids needing to get to bed, the house buzzing with energy. And yet, it’s beautiful to watch our children light up with excitement as they welcome people into our home. Every time, without fail, we walk away saying, “Wow, God—thank You for bringing these people here tonight.” I’m constantly amazed by the connections He creates and the ways He uses Westside Community Groups to build up the body, one relationship at a time.