Last week I talked to you guys about some of my resolutions and goals, and how I grouped them into different categories: spiritual, intellectual, ministerial, physical, and financial. Well, over the next couple of weeks, I want to navigate through some ministerial goals with you specifically revolving around the goal of not being stagnant. We want to be a people of movement, a love revolution in our world, and over the next several weeks I want us to discover HOW we actually do that. We’re starting a series called Growth Through Groups and I’d like to navigate the importance of small groups in our lives.
One of my ministerial goals this year is to change the philosophy of ministry to incorporate intentional discipleship alongside effective evangelism. We have been known as a ministry that does evangelism well, and that discipleship happens organically. I’ve been challenged to see what would happen if discipleship was intentional, rather than organic. What I hope happens is that the light bulb would go off for all the teens in our church. That something inside each of you would click if it hasn’t already. That community, depth, and accountability in your spiritual journey would happen as a result of intentional discipleship through small groups.
Tonight, we’re talking about community. The first thing that should grow through groups is community. [community clip] This show on NBC is all about people who attend a community college. They start a study group but they learn more about each other than their intended course studies. We talked during our relationships series how we were designed for relationship. Genesis 2 says that it’s not good for man to be alone. God designed us to be in relationship with each other, and in essence, to be in community. Being a part of community is fun, challenging, inspiring, motivating, and encouraging. It’s about doing life together. Over the years, Jenni and I have been a part of different groups. For a while, I was in a men’s group that met weekly to talk, hang out, play games, and study. There was something unique about the group that felt like community, but when it came down to it, for most of the guys it was just another meeting. All of us didn’t really hang out together outside the group, though a few of us did. Something that struck me though was that we weren’t really doing life together. We were just meeting together so that we could say we had a “men’s group”. Ooooh, Spiritual! Don’t get me wrong—we studied some great things—we read Wild At Heart together, we played poker, we talked through our issues, and we had fun. But it didn’t last—guys got different jobs, they moved, they didn’t feel comfortable being open with each other. Now, I am a part of a community that’s been forming over the years. I consider my community to be my best friends, my brothers, my sisters, people that I enjoy spending time with. We don’t all meet together for a Bible Study, but we do life together. We talk often outside the group, we hang out, and we challenge each other, pray for each other, and encourage each other.
Hebrews 10: 23-25 says this, “23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The writer of Hebrews is writing to the Hebrew people, who converted to Christianity from Judaism—in essence, Christian Jews. His goal is to address the doubts that the people had in their conversion. Here in chapter 10, he’s telling them to hold onto their hope. Now hope in the Bible isn’t so much the same as what we declare as hope. When we say stuff like, “I hope so” it literally means that if it happens, great! But when people mention hope in the Bible, it goes along with belief—like knowing for certain that it will happen. So he says hold onto your hope—don’t lose faith, because God is faithful. Then he goes onto say consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. He’s saying that these things-love and good deeds- don’t just naturally happen, they have to be stirred up. The greek word here is “paroxysm”-which means a “convulsion.” It speaks forcefully of the tremendous impact that believers can have on each other. It’s like if I were to do my best to convince you of something I might grab you, and shake you and say “don’t you get it?!?” or “snap out of it!” This is why he encourages the Hebrews to not stop meeting together. Apparently, some of them stopped attending worship services, maybe for fear of persecution, but he’s telling them you need to come alongside each other, inspire each other with the truth, and apply it to the circumstances of your very lives, and don’t stop doing that until Jesus comes back---in fact, do it more often so that you can remain faithful to Jesus before he comes back.
The writer of Hebrews gets it—he gets that community is vital to the life of the believer. If you are to grow in your faith, you need others to walk alongside you, inspire you, encourage you, and pray for you. You need people to do life together with.
But we’re not talking about any type of community. You probably won’t grow in your faith by being part of a business community, a gamers community, a retirement community, or an online community. You may not even need to define the type of community that will allow you to grow the most—but if you were, it should be your church community. People come to church for various reasons—to worship, to get their life back on track, to learn about the Bible, to hang with their friends, free food and coffee, to get a date with a Christian, you name it-people have probably come to church for those reasons. If you can be a part of a community that has the same desires as you-then what you desire will fuel growth. If you are a part of a community that desires God, then you’ll grow. If you are a part of a community that desires to get dates, then you’ll get dates. Your motivation should come from your desire. So, be a part of a community that wants what you want. We’re going to put you in small groups, but if you as an individual do not desire what the group desires, then you won’t be a part of community. You’ll be an individual in a group meeting.
My community is unique—we have common interests, common goals, common desires. The thing that brought us together was our love for God, our love for teenagers, and our involvement in youth ministry. What has kept us together has been our desire to be a part of each other’s story. We, as individuals, are all different, but as a group our desire has always been to be the best versions of ourselves. We want to be better leaders, better spouses, better parents, better followers of Christ, and we push each other towards that goal when we’re together, and we have fun doing it.
One of the things you need to consider when being a part of a community is extremely important—the type of people you associate with. We’ve talked a ton about how you can choose your friends, and how bad company corrupts good character, but think about what you want to be like. Proverbs 13:20 says, “whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” This verse reminds us that our friends—our community—can be a blessing or a curse depending on if they are foolish or not. Some of the people we hang out with just do foolish things—like when I was in high school I hung out with a group of guys who would go to church together, but on the weekend we would drink, or go and t.p. and egg people’s houses—my friends did some foolish things, so instead of becoming wiser, I became more foolish. It’s kind of like the saying “you are what you eat” except changing it so that it says “you are who you hang out with.” In order for us to build a sense of strong community, we need to have wise friends.
As we consider what it looks like to be in community, we’re going to break up into our small groups with the same leaders you were with last week. JV with Paul, Maureen, and Jeanne in the Lounge. 9-10 with Titus behind the curtain. 11th with John and Sally. 12th with Me. We’ll bring it back together in a little while.
Small Group:
Make sure everyone knows each other—have them introduce themselves, with their name, age, school, grade, and favorite thing to do.
Gregg talked tonight about community, and how community is important to growth through groups.
What are the things that could bring you together as a community? What do you have in common? What are your desires?
What about community is appealling to you?
What do you hope to achieve through small group?
Closing: (depending on time, have some students share their thoughts on community)
The ultimate desire of community other than having a place to be known, belong, and be accepted is growth. Consider how you can invite others into your community this week. Next week, we are going to talk about how to grow deep in community—you don’t want to miss it.
