My husband Bert and I dated long-distance for 2 years before getting married. During those two years, he lived in Atlanta and I lived in Seattle. In Seattle we had an amazing group of friends who were supportive, caring, and always there for us. He had spent 10 years building this community, and I continued to grow it in the 2 years that I lived there as well. Moving to Atlanta, and leaving this community, was a huge decision for me. While we were talking about making this move, I kept telling Bert that I would give Atlanta a chance on one condition: we had to find a church and start building a community that felt like family. My thought was that if we’re going to raise kids far away from our families, we are going to need to build the village that supports us and our future kids along the way. When I first moved here, we did a lot of church hopping. We went to small churches and big churches. Churches we could walk to and ones that took us 30 minutes to drive to. We went everywhere, and we got tired of going in and out of churches that just did not feel like a good fit for us.
Finally, I started meeting with individuals from some of those churches and asking them what their community looks like and describing what we were looking for. I told people we were looking for a place where the community is genuine and vulnerable. We didn’t just want a church to attend; we wanted a place where we could be known and belong. It didn’t take long before someone I described this to pointed us towards Kairos.
From the first time we came to Kairos, we knew it was the kind of community we were looking for, and we couldn’t wait to get more plugged in. I reached out to Miriam to see if there were any small groups we could join. After learning a bit about us, she quickly matched us with a group of other young adults who had space for a new couple in their group. We knew this was the right group for us from the first time we met them. Our small group has been a group of people we have gotten to know and who have invested in knowing us as well. We learn from the others in our group, and we are supported by them in prayer and encouragement. There are so many things we love about the Kairos community, but our small group and the relationships we have built through it have been the most impactful part of our first year here.
If you are new to Kairos, new to Atlanta, or if you have been here forever but have not had the chance to grow deeper in your relationships with others and with God through a small group, I really encourage you to give it a try. Every small group looks different. There is no pressure to be anything or do anything special at small group. It is a chance to share about where you are in life and in your walk with God and to be encouraged by and learn with other people. It is a place to come as you are and to grow at your own pace, and it is a gift to know and be known in such an accepting and loving environment.
– Casey Duthiers