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• guest writer
• small groups

Meet Erica Peck, our Ministry Assistant!

Erica, tell us a little about yourself and your family.
I have had the privilege of working with IRSM for two and a half years, and have had the incredible blessing of learning and growing spiritually and professionally through knowing Michelle and being a part of the Iron Rose Sister Ministries team. When I’m not doing ministry responsibilities, you can find me enjoying good coffee with my husband of almost 9 years, and at home playing with my 3 year-old and 7 year-old sons, making up adventures, reading and teaching them to bake. We enjoy supporting local activities and things like camping and going to parks. I have also enjoyed having a home daycare for 6 years now, which occupies several days of my week.

How did you come to be a part of the Iron Rose Sister Ministries Team?
A mutual friend of Michelle and I actually saw that she was looking for an assistant, and knew that I had been looking for a way to use my ability to speak Spanish to bless others, and recommended that I talk to Michelle. We ended up having a great first conversation, and I was able to start volunteering with the ministry, and, after a few months, it turned into a job with more formal hours! It has been an incredible growing experience and a huge blessing for my family and I to be a part of something as wonderful as IRSM.

What has been your experience with an IRSM Small Group?
I first participated in a pilot study group for Who Has the Last Word? There were just a handful of us participating—the size you really want a small group to be for everyone to be able to feel comfortable sharing. The group consisted of women from different ages and in different stages of life, and that too, helped our dynamic of sharing and being able to bring various perspectives to the group. We all grew so much throughout the study, in our personal lives, closer to God, and of course our relationships with each other. All the things it’s meant to be!
The second study I participated in was Called to Listen. It was a slightly larger group than the first, but still small enough to where everyone had a chance to participate and share perspectives about the material and of course prayer requests and thanksgivings. I thoroughly enjoyed this study too, because for me, the lessons on different ways we are called to listen to God was presented in such a practical, and easy-to-incorporate-way into a daily routine.

What do small groups mean to you now?
Thinking about small groups now doesn’t make me nervous or hesitant anymore. I think of both of the studies I was in and a smile comes to my face. The laughter, and the tears we shared together in those groups have changed me for the better, and I look forward to being a part of another small group soon. I know it’s a safe place where I can go and be myself and really share what’s on my heart, and I appreciate that the other women in the group share of themselves as well, for that truly is the way we come to know one another and be known.

How have you seen others be blessed through small groups (ones you have been a part of or things you’ve heard from other Iron Rose Sisters across the Americas)?
I have seen women grow spiritually, and in relationship with each other, through these small groups. When we started a study as strangers, we were soon meeting together, hugging, sharing freely and expressing concerns happening in our personal lives. Other women have also commented how much the small groups and the studies themselves have “made them stop and think differently,” and how “it’s the highlight of their week to come to small group.” For some women, it’s the only place they can come and share at that deeper level.

Is there anything else you would like to share from your experience?
I’ve been a part of other small groups, from different churches, mission trips, and other groups, but I’ve got to say that the way these small group studies are laid out, they really make you dig deep in a good way—discovering more about God, about yourself, and ask questions in such a way that the theme of each chapter is easy to discuss with the ladies you are meeting with each week, and that is why so much growth happens. If you have been teetering on the edge of whether or not you want to participate in, or start your own small group study with one of these books, I strongly encourage you to do so. It will only bless you.

Erica, Thanks for sharing your story and your experiences!

We invite our readers to respond to Erica through this blog. And we would also love for you to have a similar experience with small groups! For more information about our books and resources, please contact us. We would love to help!

#IronRoseSisters #smallgroups #community #friends

• small groups

The church is a community that extends beyond borders, languages, cultures, and time. I have had the blessing of getting to know members of the community of believers across the U.S. and from many countries across the world. Whether African or Chinese, Hispanic or Indian, Kazak or Russian, Canadian or Southern, the community in Christ is one.

One thing we all have in common is the desire for relationship—for a deeper sense of community. We long for community with our Creator and with His creation—other people with whom we can relate and share our lives.

Grandmas and college students alike want to know what it truly means to be in relationship with God and one another—what it means to be community, family, and the church to each other.

My Chinese friends bring a new perspective to the concept of family and community. In the Chinese culture and language, you are known by your family name first, then your individual name. Your personal identity is secondary to your place in the family. Your identity depends on your family. Therefore, in Chinese, my name would be Goff Michelle rather than Michelle Goff, and all of us with the name Goff would share the same name and reputation. My dad, mom, sisters and I would all be called “Goff” and then someone might clarify which Goff they wanted to speak with. But it wouldn’t matter with whom they spoke because we would be of one mind, one voice, one spirit. Individualism is not highly regarded as in other cultures you may be more familiar with.

Reminds me of Paul’s reminder in Philippians 2:1-4...

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Is our role in family, community, church, or small group more important than our individual identity and the self-centered priority we often focus on?

Which is more important:
To be right or to be kind?
To understand or be understood?
To listen or to be heard?
To deny self or focus on self?

Today, I encourage you to find community through a small group, women who become like family, with whom you can be authentic, encouraged and accountable. You can remind each other and live out those priorities as the family of Christ, Iron Rose Sisters.

It is my prayer and one of the goals of Iron Rose Sister Ministries, that we might be that community to each other—a church family spanning two languages and two continents. I pray that we may be iron sharpening iron to one another and that we might encourage and inspire each other to be as beautiful as a rose in spite of a few thorns—all in the context of community.

Are you living up to the family name?

#IronRoseSister #smallgroups #family #community