Four Reasons to Join a Small Group this Year
Commitment is not exactly a sexy thing in our culture. Maybe the one thing modern Aussies are committed to is the ideal of being noncommittal. We love freedom, options and flexibility, and so the concept of covenanting to walk the ups and downs of life with a community is perhaps more counter-cultural than ever.
Let’s be honest. Attending a small group bible study takes effort. It takes time, energy and investment that can be in short supply in our busy lives. Certainly at times, it can feel easier to throw in the towel rather than commit to a whole year of midweek nights out after a hard day at work.
So, here’s four reasons to gear up, count the cost, and throw yourself into a year of doing real life in community.
#1 It is how we grow
“Sanctification is a community project”
The journey of genuine faith is not a passive one. We aren't going to grow in God apart from serious pursuit of His truth in the Word, dedicated time together in prayer, and continual application of gospel truths to our hearts. If you’re reading this, then you probably already agree with that statement on the surface. But these aren’t the only forces God has given to shape us more into the likeness of Christ. In addition to the Word, prayer and gospel application, God has ordained that growth happens when we strive after Him together. Our faith is deepened in community in ways that can’t happen on our own. Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”. In this process of mutual sharpening there are often sparks. It can be uncomfortable and difficult at times. But when we give ourselves over to the work of being sharpened in community, we find that our rough edges get smoothed and our lives begin to resemble more of that of our saviour. As John Piper writes: “Sanctification is a community project”. As we gather in living rooms and around dining tables all over the city, we get to encourage each other, love each other, and point each other to Jesus in real ways that actually matter to our lives. We get sharpened.
#2 It is how we love one another
““So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.””
But small groups aren’t only for our own growth and journey with God. In fact, the love of Christ won’t allow us to stop with just thinking of ourselves in this — we are compelled to consider love of our neighbour (2 Cor. 5:14). And small groups provide a tangible context for us to practice the “one anothers” of scripture. The New Testament is full of them. Love one another. Serve one another. Honour one another. In fact, if you were to count them, you’d find 59 separate direct commands of this nature. And I’m not sure if you’ve notice this, but each of these 59 commands are impossible to fulfill on your own — you need someone else to be the “other”! When you are at your house watching Netflix on a Wednesday night, you are unable to love, honour and serve anyone. Small groups provide that place that we get to, as the body of Christ, minister to each other the grace of Jesus. You’re not only sharpened, but you can be used as a tool in the hand of God to sharpen another! What a privilege. In small group, we get to go about the business of one-anothering one another for the glory of God and so show that we truly are the disciples of Christ (John 13:34-35).
#3 Not Just Hearers
““...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” ”
At Enoggera Baptist Church, we run our small groups primarily by following the sermon series we are in as a church. This is a very intentional decision. It provides unity for our church. It encourages attendance on Sundays. But more than this, gathering midweek for prayer and reflection on the Word helps us consider together how we put what we hear into practice. Like two pedals on a bike, we first gather together as a big family to sit under the Word preached and join in worship, and then midweek, we gather as a small family to process, reflect and pray together. Each pedal helps the bike stay steady. At times we can fall into a pattern of spiritual bulimia, continually hearing the Word of God but not applying it before we move on to the next thing. This failure to stop and properly digest the Word does harm to the depth and integrity of our faith. As James writes, “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Being in community helps us make this move from head to heart, from concepts to life, from information to application. It helps keep the bike steady and drives us ever further towards Christ.
#4 Community is not actually an optional extra
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
We’ve left the most pressing reason until last. The most fundamental reason to join a small group is this: living in genuine community is in no way an optional extra to the Christian faith. Now, that is not to say that the format of midweek small group is absolutely necessary in of itself, but that the underlying principle of deep relationship with others is. This is because God actually designed us for community. Being an eternally unified community within Himself - Father, Son and Spirit - when God created man in His image he imprinted on us something of that same intrinsic communal nature (yes, even you, my introvert friends). This is in your very DNA. The concept of a private faith is entirely alien to the scriptures. The gospel says that we aren't just saved from Satan, sin and death, but that we are saved into a people - the church. To war against this is the equivalent of a foot deciding it didn’t want to be part of the body (1 Cor. 12:12-14). Our western individualism is at odds with God on this, but trust me, His way is better. We were made for community by His good design.
Small Group Launch
So as we launch our groups for the coming year at Enoggera, consider what it is you are called into. You are called to deepen your faith with your brothers and sisters, be a tool in the hands of God to sharpen others, to put your faith into practice and so be doers and not just hearers, and to live out your very design. It’s not always easy, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. Trust God’s wisdom on this. And as is so often the way in God’s mysterious ways, it is in the hard thing that we find the richest blessings from God and discover whole new wings in the mansion of His grace.