Another of the phrases that you will often hear around Skipton Baptist Church is 'No one walks alone.' One of the most effective ways we know of enabling this to happen is through Small Groups, where the larger community of the church is broken down into smaller community groups. Here closer relationships are able to take place, so much so that if one person in the group has a need the other members of the group are quickly aware of it.

Today something like 75%-80% of church members are part of a small group. Each of the groups has a leader and often a co leader and small groups meet at the convenience of the group. The central focus of all our groups is to enable its members to Meet God, Meet Friends, and Make a Difference.

There will be times during the year when as a leadership we give clear direction to the groups as to what we would like them to do. For most of the year however groups are free to do those things which fulfil our mission statement of Meeting God, Meeting Friends and Making a Difference.

Every member of the church is encouraged to belong to a group and we try to make sure that as new folk come to the church they are encouraged to join a group. Groups are made up of between 8 and 14 people as we have found that if groups become to large they can become impersonal.