Rock Hill South Carolina home to Elevation Church River Walk is expanding their community beyond their city. One of the exciting new realities that resulted from the government mandate to close the doors of churches was the birth of online community groups. Elevation Church’s River Walk Campus in South Carolina has resumed their Sunday morning worship services. Now that churches are open will the virtual eGroups continue to grow?  Will Rock Hill continue to expand beyond York County in reaching the world with the Gospel? Based on the current expansion of community groups hosting by leaders in Rock Hill some are pressed to believe the growth will continue.

Elevation Church had already embraced the online community and were supporting discussion leaders with the option for Zoom Calls well before the government mandates.  Elevation River Walk campus pastors and staff began to encourage more local leaders to shift their Rock Hill EGroups to a Zoom call so people could stay connected. Now eGroups are growing and expending well beyond Rock Hill to include people from all over the world. 

Groups of people coming together have never been easier now. Granted, if you live in Rock Hill driving to making a weekly bible study or discussion group is not a big deal. Traffic is not the issue. But if you live in Maine traffic isn’t the challenge. It would be snow and ice that would keep you from venturing out during the winter months. Now more than ever  eGroup leaders are embracing Zoom Video conferencing to host their weekly meetings. Community knows no boundaries when we choose to come together and discuss how we are experiencing God’s Word in our lives.  Winter weather, traffic, and government shut downs do not have to keep people from experiencing true community and the encouragement that comes from talking about God’s Word.

Now that groups consist of people from different parts of the country and in some cases the world, there are opportunities to grow our perspectives that can only happen when we get outside of our local towns and cities. There is no replacing the experiences and education that comes from traveling. But there is also much to learn from listening to others who live outside of your community share about their way of life and what God is doing in their life.  

Rock Hill South Carolina, population of 75,000 in 2019 is the state’s 5^th largest city. Elevation Church  consists of 20 physical locations with an average of 27,000 in weekly attendance in 2019. It will be interesting to see how history reports the growth of the church during 2020 and beyond.