“Without community, there is no liberation.”
— Audre Lorde
Why join a small group at New Roots AME?
At New Roots AME, small groups are where faith and formation meet. These groups create a space to deepen your spiritual journey, build meaningful relationships, and explore your callings in an intimate setting. Whether you’re looking for healing, creativity, discipleship, or community sustainability, there’s a group for you. And if it doesn’t exist, you can help create one!
Small groups are more than just meetings—they are places where we grow together, support one another, and live out the Kin(g)dom vision.
They provide:
At New Roots AME, small groups are where faith and formation meet. These groups create a space to deepen your spiritual journey, build meaningful relationships, and explore your callings in an intimate setting. Whether you’re looking for healing, creativity, discipleship, or community sustainability, there’s a group for you. And if it doesn’t exist, you can help create one!
Small groups are more than just meetings—they are places where we grow together, support one another, and live out the Kin(g)dom vision.
They provide:
- A nurturing & intentional community: Walk alongside others who are committed to practicing faith with love, purpose, and care.
- Deep spiritual exploration: Engage in study, discussion, and/or shared practices that nurture your faith.
- Authentic conversations: A space to ask hard questions, share your story, and receive encouragement.
- Personal & communal transformation: Move beyond Sunday services into a rhythm of discipleship and action.
“Small is good, small is all.”
– adrienne maree brown
What makes small groups different from Sunday services at New Roots?
New Roots is called to be a place of love and belonging, for people who are called in this moment to do important restorative healing work in the world. This work can take the shape of individual spiritual growth, shared collective practices that nurture internal community life, and bold engagement with the wider world.
Sunday mornings at New Roots are like a communal feast—a shared potluck where the entire body gathers to encounter God, connect with one another, and glimpse the Kin(g)dom together. It is a time we gather to worship, learn, and discern what God is calling us to.
Small groups, on the other hand, are where this vision takes root and deepens. They are spaces of intentional formation, where relationships are cultivated, discipleship is lived out, and calling is discerned in a more personal, ongoing way. While Sunday worship casts the vision, small groups provide the scaffolding for the New Roots community to embody that vision in their daily lives.
New Roots is called to be a place of love and belonging, for people who are called in this moment to do important restorative healing work in the world. This work can take the shape of individual spiritual growth, shared collective practices that nurture internal community life, and bold engagement with the wider world.
Sunday mornings at New Roots are like a communal feast—a shared potluck where the entire body gathers to encounter God, connect with one another, and glimpse the Kin(g)dom together. It is a time we gather to worship, learn, and discern what God is calling us to.
Small groups, on the other hand, are where this vision takes root and deepens. They are spaces of intentional formation, where relationships are cultivated, discipleship is lived out, and calling is discerned in a more personal, ongoing way. While Sunday worship casts the vision, small groups provide the scaffolding for the New Roots community to embody that vision in their daily lives.
Interested in starting a small group?
Some groups begin with a vision, while others form around a shared need or practice. If you’re feeling called to start a small group, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
You can:
There are a number of ways to start but one way to end: on a journey together.
Some groups begin with a vision, while others form around a shared need or practice. If you’re feeling called to start a small group, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
You can:
- Meet with Rose, our Director of Spiritual Formation and Small Groups, to discern and shape the process together.
- Reach out to others to gather interest, discern a focus, and establish a meeting rhythm.
There are a number of ways to start but one way to end: on a journey together.
Explore Our Small Groups
Ready to find your place?
Whether you’re joining a group or thinking of starting one, you are welcome here.
Click here to fill out the interest form to take the next step in your faith journey.
Click here to fill out the interest form to take the next step in your faith journey.
Welcoming Small Group
Status: Developing
Meeting Times: Every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Tuesday
Location: Hybrid
Focus: This small group meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month and is designed as an open, hybrid space for connection and reflection. Co-led by facilitators representing both in-person and virtual communities, the group gathers for prayer, conversation, and discussion grounded in themes from Sunday services. No preparation is required, and participation is flexible. The group is intended to support those who are new to New Roots, returning after time away, engaging virtually, or seeking space to explore faith and build connection at their own pace.
Meeting Times: Every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Tuesday
Location: Hybrid
Focus: This small group meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month and is designed as an open, hybrid space for connection and reflection. Co-led by facilitators representing both in-person and virtual communities, the group gathers for prayer, conversation, and discussion grounded in themes from Sunday services. No preparation is required, and participation is flexible. The group is intended to support those who are new to New Roots, returning after time away, engaging virtually, or seeking space to explore faith and build connection at their own pace.
The Next Supper
Status: Active (starting June 5)
Meeting Times: 1st and 3rd Thursdays, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Location: Mission Hill, Boston
Focus: The Next Supper is a small group for those seeking deeper connection, meaningful conversation, and space to grow in their faith. Meeting in person twice a month, this group begins each gathering with a meal and moves into dialogue shaped by recent sermon questions from Sunday sermons. Leadership and meal preparation rotate based on interest and capacity. The group’s objectives are to get to know one another, connect with God, grow as disciples of Jesus, and remain open to different perspectives so they can learn from each other and expand their spiritual lives.
Meeting Times: 1st and 3rd Thursdays, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Location: Mission Hill, Boston
Focus: The Next Supper is a small group for those seeking deeper connection, meaningful conversation, and space to grow in their faith. Meeting in person twice a month, this group begins each gathering with a meal and moves into dialogue shaped by recent sermon questions from Sunday sermons. Leadership and meal preparation rotate based on interest and capacity. The group’s objectives are to get to know one another, connect with God, grow as disciples of Jesus, and remain open to different perspectives so they can learn from each other and expand their spiritual lives.
Healing Small Group
Status: Developing
Meeting Times: TBD
Location: Virtual
Focus: The Healing Small Group will embark on a healing journey which includes three components: 1) how to attend to one’s self-care during the healing process, incorporating spiritual practices and motivational messaging; 2) wholeness: what is it? the relationship between healing, wellness, and wholeness; what is the theology of wholeness; and 3) the pathway to wholeness including content about love, trust, forgiveness, focus, and rest.
Meeting Times: TBD
Location: Virtual
Focus: The Healing Small Group will embark on a healing journey which includes three components: 1) how to attend to one’s self-care during the healing process, incorporating spiritual practices and motivational messaging; 2) wholeness: what is it? the relationship between healing, wellness, and wholeness; what is the theology of wholeness; and 3) the pathway to wholeness including content about love, trust, forgiveness, focus, and rest.
Womanist Creative Writers Group
Status: Fully Active | Rotating Leadership
Meeting Times: Every Thursday from 5:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Hybrid
Focus: The Womanist Creative Writers Group is a sacred space where Black women writers gather to write in community, cultivate creative discipline, and deepen our vocational understanding of ourselves as writers. Each gathering includes dedicated writing time, sharing time, opportunities for connection, and shared reflection on the journey of creativity.
Meeting Times: Every Thursday from 5:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Hybrid
Focus: The Womanist Creative Writers Group is a sacred space where Black women writers gather to write in community, cultivate creative discipline, and deepen our vocational understanding of ourselves as writers. Each gathering includes dedicated writing time, sharing time, opportunities for connection, and shared reflection on the journey of creativity.
Jubilee House Small Group
Status: Fully Active
Meeting Times: Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 6pm-7pm
Location: Hybrid (Dorchester, Online)
Focus: The Jubilee House Small Group actively explores and embodies the vision of the forthcoming Jubilee House, an intentional living community. Well before construction on the house began, this small group had been exploring the biblical concept of jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-55) through practices of release, rest, and renewal, both personally and communally. Through discussion and action, members delve into themes of hospitality, justice, and community sustainability. Inspired by the intentional living model of Jubilee House, this small group cultivates authentic relationships, experiments with new economic and social practices, and supports one another in the work of liberation.
Meeting Times: Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 6pm-7pm
Location: Hybrid (Dorchester, Online)
Focus: The Jubilee House Small Group actively explores and embodies the vision of the forthcoming Jubilee House, an intentional living community. Well before construction on the house began, this small group had been exploring the biblical concept of jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-55) through practices of release, rest, and renewal, both personally and communally. Through discussion and action, members delve into themes of hospitality, justice, and community sustainability. Inspired by the intentional living model of Jubilee House, this small group cultivates authentic relationships, experiments with new economic and social practices, and supports one another in the work of liberation.
Jubilee Flame Commissioning Group
Status: Developing
Meeting Times: TBD
Location: TBD
Focus: The Jubilee Flame Commissioning Group is a space for individuals discerning their call and stepping into deeper discipleship. Rooted in the understanding that calling is both personal and communal, this group offers support, reflection, and guidance for those moving through the commissioning process at New Roots AME. Participants engage in shared practices of listening, discernment, and spiritual formation, exploring how their unique gifts align with the Kin(g)dom vision. Drawing from the church’s emphasis on serving out of the overflow, this group helps members cultivate a sustainable, life-giving sense of vocation, rather than one rooted in exhaustion or obligation. Through prayer, dialogue, and communal accompaniment, the Jubilee Flame Commissioning Group nurtures both the individual journey and the collective responsibility of faithfully following God.
Meeting Times: TBD
Location: TBD
Focus: The Jubilee Flame Commissioning Group is a space for individuals discerning their call and stepping into deeper discipleship. Rooted in the understanding that calling is both personal and communal, this group offers support, reflection, and guidance for those moving through the commissioning process at New Roots AME. Participants engage in shared practices of listening, discernment, and spiritual formation, exploring how their unique gifts align with the Kin(g)dom vision. Drawing from the church’s emphasis on serving out of the overflow, this group helps members cultivate a sustainable, life-giving sense of vocation, rather than one rooted in exhaustion or obligation. Through prayer, dialogue, and communal accompaniment, the Jubilee Flame Commissioning Group nurtures both the individual journey and the collective responsibility of faithfully following God.
