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242 Small Groups at CIL are how we connect, grow, share, and serve together. The name is taken from Acts 2:42 and refers to how the community of believers in the early church lived their lives. To find out about all of the group, their leaders and meeting times, click the link below.

242 Groups take a break during the summer months, but resume meeting on Sunday, August 17, 2025!

If you are not yet part of a 242 Small Group, we’d love for you to participate in one! Check out our 242 Groups page to learn more!

Romans 8:22-23 (CSB)
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first fruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  

Suffering is the tired story of earth, so we cannot avoid it 

Genesis 3:17-18 (CSB)
 17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:

The ground is cursed because of you.
 You will eat from it by means of painful labor[e]
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
 and you will eat the plants of the field.
 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow
 until you return to the ground,
 since you were taken from it.
 For you are dust,
 and you will return to dust.”

Suffering is unjust, so we cannot accept it
 
Luke 13:1-5 (CSB)
 At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And he[a] responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well. 4 Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”

Revelation 21:1-8 (CSB)
 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:[a] Look, God’s dwelling[b] is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples,[c] and God himself will be with them and will be their God.[d] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things[e] have passed away.

5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words[f] are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

 Romans 8:18-23 (CSB)
 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first fruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 

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