I need to take a minute to say how wonderful our small-group is. Like a lot of churches, we have found small-groups to be indispensable in creating an atmosphere for the Biblical "one anothers" (love one another, encourage one another, spur one another on to love and good deeds, etc). I am a big believer in putting Christians in smaller groups to live life together. All small-groups struggle to one degree or another in being the type of community the Bible calls us to be. Sometimes small-groups can be a very frustrating experience. There are other times, though, when a small-group is such a beautiful thing.
The group that Kelly and I help lead has got to be the most varied group I have ever been apart of. We have young couples with toddlers and other couples with grown kids. We have 5 singles ranging from college age to young professional to older and divorced. We have 3 folks who have just come out of an ultra-legalistic church community (sort of Amish like, only more oppressive). We have another guy who is sort of a "biker type" who has just recently come out of drug and alcohol abuse, trouble with the law and failed marriages. Every time we meet I look out at the jammed packed living room of people standing, or sitting on the floor or at tables or on the sofas with styrofoam plates of food precariously balanced on their knees and I just smile. We are such an odd group.
Over the last several months we have been talking about and studying the concept of "grace". How great to see people in such different stages of life and from wildly different backgrounds all united together around our common need for grace. It is such a wonderful picture of what the church is supposed to be.
I love the way our group opens up and talks about important issues; I love the way they pray for and with each other; I love the way they have reached out to and welcomed new folks to our little "community;" I love their desire and heart for serving others.
But, this is the sad part... When I started this group a year or so ago, I started it with a co-leader (Scott) who had never led a small-group before. The plan was always to grow the group to viable size, establish the group in what a small-group was supposed to look like, and to get Scott to where he was comfortable to lead on his own - and then Kelly and I would duck out and start another group. Well, the time has come.
My plan now is for Kelly and I to step out and for Scott to give some leadership opportunities to another guy in our group in hopes of dividing the group soon.
While this is a wonderful place to be, it is still kind of sad. I am tempted to just stay where I am - because I like it here. Like everyone else I have to fight the urge to "keep a good thing going". But, as soon as we try to hang on to and preserve - that which we are preserving ceases to be what it once was. We have to keep moving forward. Change and growth are good things.
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2 comments:
That is encouraging to here how God's grace seems to bring together the widest group of people in and they can have so much to talk about because they have Christ and He's everything. . .. He's all we got.
God bless your small group.
I pray that as you "divide the perinnials" (good analogy?) God will give the group grace and strength to carry the gospel beyond your little basket of loaves and fishes.
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