Community Groups -

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” (Psalm 133)

Community is what we were made for. In that sense, it is the most natural thing in the world. But at the same time, there is a very real resistance to it. And so if community is going to be realized, we must be prepared to intentionally pursue it. And be aware of each source of this resistance.

Sunday morning worship, important and vital as it is for our spiritual health and growth, is not enough. Sneaking in and out each week is not enough. Even hanging around here for an extra few minutes is not enough. There is something reciprocal spoken of in the Scriptures, something interpersonal, something that clearly demands smaller gatherings – something along the lines of what we’re endeavoring to begin even here, the ministry of community groups. There we have the opportunity to learn to be in the Word together, to pray and be prayed for together, how to share life together – which we cannot do any other way but by being together.

“By members…(Paul) meant what we should call organs, things essentially different from, and complementary to, one another, things differing not only in structure and function but also in dignity…How true membership in a body differs from inclusion in a collective may be seen in the structure of a family…If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family by number; you have inflicted an injury on its structure.”

- C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, “Membership”