God did not ask us face life alone. He provides us his Word through the Scriptures. He has given us the Holy Spirit so we would not be left without the Divine Presence with us. He has also blessed us each other. That’s why the earliest Christians met together and devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

    A 242 group uses these principles from Acts 2:42, and builds a group of men or/and women (we have found it helpful to keep some of these groups gender specific based on the needs and issues). These groups share a common Bible reading plan, usually reading one chapter of the Bible a day. They write down what the Lord has taught them through his Word and bring those lessons to a weekly group meeting to share with each other. At the meeting, the group eats a light meal (usually a sack lunch or hamburger) and shares fellowship with each other. This fellowship often extends beyond the conversation and friendliness of the meeting to incorporate help for each other in difficult times as well as fun events, spiritual retreats, and service activities that build closeness and deepen the spiritual commitment of everyone in the group. Prayer time is a primary focus as the people in the group pray for each other and praise God for the victories of the past week and pray for the areas of concern in each others’ lives during the meeting.

    These four elements —

• reading and applying Scripture,
• sharing a meal with each other,
• praying for each other, and
• sharing each others’ lives in fellowship