Small Groups - Overrated?

It’s ironic to me that the more technologically advanced we become – the more disconnected we become. Most of our technology is sold to us telling us how it will make the important things in our life easier or make the harder things in life go quicker so that we will have the time for the things that matter most – but in reality – I see lots of our technology creating further rifts in relationships.

Let me give you some examples, I already mentioned the garage door opener – it keeps us isolated from our neighbors. But then there are other so called advances in communication. But each advance in communication seems to be increasingly impersonal and disconnected. E-mail is becoming passé, and e-mail is impersonal enough, we say things in an e-mail that we would never say face-to face!

Then we had IMs, and now there are the facebooks and the myspace areas – which give a semblance of connecting in this cyber-world, but in reality it’s not much more than just an area where you can post comments – it’s extremely impersonal. So, today, people are doing more things to connect – but the connections are increasingly superficial – and what’s more, they don’t meet the deepest needs that we have. See, we were created to live in community, we were created to need each other, we were created to desire friendships!

In Genesis 2:18 God made a pronouncement that “It is not good for the man to be alone.” While it is true that that verse is referring more to the man needing a wife – it is also true that in general being alone is not a good thing. We have a word to describe those who are alone – it is the word “lonely.” Loneliness is not part of God’s design for the human race. He created us to be together and to need each other!

Not only were we created to be in community, it is just plain a good idea! Solomon said this in Ecclesiastes 4: “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.

That verse reminds me of the words of Jesus when he said “For where two or three gather together in my name I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20). It’s interesting, because God is with you even when you are alone – but there is apparently more of God’s presence and power available when His followers gather together!

According to Paul – this form of community and camaraderie was God’s very plan for the church. Look at what Paul said in Ephesians 2:19-21, “You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”