Growing in Community

When did your love for Jesus Christ really start to take off in terms of passion and growth?  When did becoming a follower (disciple) of Jesus become your most fervent priority in life?  Do you remember what sparked the revival of growth?  For me, it was a combination of circumstances, prayer, and a relational connection to a man who taught me how to love God and His word.  Let me explain.

I had come to know Jesus through the leading of my mom when I was nine.  From that time on I knew that Jesus loved me and forgave my sin.  However, I really didn’t grow or fully commit to this relationship until college. 

During my sophomore year, I circumstantially hit rock bottom in terms of out of control drinking, flunking my classes, and basically exhausting all of my personal resources to live life on my own terms.  At that time, even though I didn’t know it, my grandmother had been praying that Jesus would capture my heart.  Apparently she had been praying every day since I was a baby.  Her prayers were answered when I met Joe who taught me how to study the Bible and how to make friends that would help me grow in my faith. That was it.  God helped me to respond to my circumstances, through the prayers of others, and then lead me to a friendship that resulted in studying the Bible in a group context.  It was obviously more detailed and complicated than the above description, but you get the basic meaning.

Augustine of Hippo describes his experience of learning to follow Jesus.  After living a very rebellious and sinful life he discovered three principles that helped him grow in a group context.  He states that

“The group (growing disciples) must live together in unity, the community itself is a means of spiritual growth, and growth is facilitated by Christian friendship.” (Gallaty 91) 

There is just something wonderful that happens when we have unified and healthy relationships with one another, and when we use this relational community as the basis for our spiritual growth.  What has been your experience?

At Chapel, we are striving to equip people to know Jesus and follow Him.  A key component of this mission is to help people form small groups where they can read God’s word, learn from each other, and pray and encourage one another through the ups and downs of life.  And in my experience, growth best happens in groups of 4-6 people that are formed by gender.  Call me crazy, but I am just not going to grow and be as open to talking about my spiritual life in a room full of wives.  There is only one woman who needs to know my “darker” or more sinful side and in my case her name is Julie☺

So, we are trying to form these groups here at Chapel.  We are calling them D-Groups.  Some already exist, but we need more.  Please pray for us and get involved in one of these groups when we talk more about them in the near future.

I hope all is well and be safe during this unusual time.  God Bless.

Derek

Works Cited

Gallaty, Robby. Rediscovering Discipleship. Zondervan. 2015.