For Courtney Ravenscraft, Good Shepherd has always felt like home.
She grew up in GS Kids, Youth Group, and Vacation Bible School, and as an adult, serves in several ministries. But it was a small group she joined as a teenager that continues to enrich her life today.
During middle and high school, Courtney was part of the high school girls’ small group through the youth group. They would meet weekly during youth group, discussing faith, the Sunday sermon, and how it applied to their lives. They simply wanted to spend more time together, grow in their faith, and build friendships. They had no idea they were laying the foundation for friendships that would last a lifetime.
After graduating high school, Courtney stayed connected with this group of girls. And nearly sixteen years later, they still gather a few times each year.
Life has taken them in many directions. They live in different places and have built careers and families. Yet the bond they formed as teenagers has endured.
They have celebrated many milestones together and have walked through heartbreaking loss. When a woman from their youth group—someone who had long been part of their wider circle of friends—passed away from cancer this past year, the women served as ushers at her memorial service.
For Courtney, those moments reveal the depth of what they built. Even if they only gather a couple of times each year, she never questions whether they’ll show up for one another. They are no longer simply girls who once attended a small group together. They are lifelong friends.
That is what she hopes others discover in a small group. It is more than a place to meet people; it is where strangers can become friends.
Courtney continues to experience that in the adult small group she attends today. Its members bring different perspectives, experiences, and seasons of life to the conversation. Yet around the same table, people who might otherwise never have crossed paths begin to know one another. Their relationships extend beyond the weekly gathering, often beginning with dinner together before opening Scripture.
“It’s those moments that build connection,” Courtney says. “That’s what I remember. The people here feel like home.”
Beyond small groups, Courtney has found that same sense of belonging through her years of serving.
Ushering on Sundays gives her the opportunity to meet people of different ages and life experiences, people she might never have met otherwise.
And her love for GS Kids has never faded. VBS still remains her favorite week of the year.
After attending VBS as a child, Courtney became a helper, then a crew leader, and eventually served behind the scenes as director for five years. To this day, she still treasures watching children experience faith with openness and wonder.
She believes there is something adults can learn from that kind of faith.
Looking back, Courtney realizes her story isn’t simply about growing up at Good Shepherd. It’s about the people she has grown up with along the way.
“For me, church has never been limited to what happens on Sunday,” Courtney says. “It’s the people who walk beside you through every season of life and keep showing up long after the meeting has ended.”
