Life together

One thing I know as a Christian:  Our spiritual and relational life together was meant to go beyond Sunday morning attendance.

We are called upon to experience our life in Christ together, outside the four walls of the church. 

What is the way to facilitate this?  Life groups.

Meeting together in homes. 

If you are new(er) to our church, I encourage you to check out a life group!

And let me say this:  If you can't find a life group that you feel comfortable with - please share this with David Dewes, Rick Malender or myself.  What we will do is this:  we will start another one!

We can never have "too many" life groups!

Along that line, I am often asked, "what makes a healthy life group"?

Let me with you some thoughts from Rick Warren on this subject.

He writes (all of this based on Acts 2:42-47):

Healthy life groups study the Bible.  Acts 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching..." 

Now what he means by this is this:  In the New Testament, they lived in a spoken culture, studying lessons that came verbally from the apostles.

That's why it is a suggestion of mine that each life group consider studying the sermon from the previous Sunday.  To get the sermon into your spirit and life.  To talk it over.  I believe in our church culture we teach too much.  We need to continually find formats where we can talk and discuss what we have learned and apply it to our daily lives.

Healthy life groups share life together.  "They were devoted to fellowship" in Acts 2:42.

God calls us to be committed to one another, and it is through life groups that we learn the skills of relationship.  It is hard to get to know you if all I see is the back of your head each Sunday.  Life groups are laboratories of love, where we learn to obey the command of Jesus to love others as I love myself.

Healthy life groups remember Jesus together.  This is done through communion.  If you haven't yet celebrated communion together as a life group - I encourage you to do so.

Healthy life groups pray together.  It is in the smallness and closeness of life groups that we can reveal an pray for our hurts, reveal our feelings, confess our failures, disclose our doubts, admit our fears, and acknowledge our weakness, and ask for help.

Healthy life groups are generous.  "They gave to everyone as they had need."  Acts 2:45.  Life groups allow us to help each other (as Rick Warren writes) with practical needs.  Can I loan you a car?  Can I provide you with some meals when you are sick?

Every so often, someone approaches me about a food pantry or a counseling center.  Great ministries, but the New Testament approach is for small groups, life groups to "take care of their own."

One thing I am pleased with - is that several of our life groups are going down to City Church (as a group) to minister.

Healthy life groups worship together.  "They were praising God" together.  Acts 2:47.

Healthy life groups witness together - "and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  Acts 2:47.

I encourage every life group to focus on inviting non-churched people.

I am often asked, "why don't we see more people saved in our services"?  That is not the right question - the right question is "why don't we see more people saved in our life groups?" 

Just a wonderful, positive challenge to all of us.

Anyway, just some thoughts for a Tuesday.