Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:46-47 (NAS)

About five years ago during The Mount’s “Purpose Driven Life” series, our church joined numerous other congregations across the country in instituting small, personal Bible-study groups called Life Groups, the impetus of which was derived directly from the New Testament. During that time, the Christian church met in people’s homes and ministered to those in the community directly and in a personal way. As George Barna with The Barna Group, a California-based organization for the leadership development; spiritual training, church facilitation and enhancement, said of the modern church:

“More believers are going back and looking at the early church, looking at the book of Acts and seeing these people who had such a vibrant faith. There were no positions, there were no salary scales, there were no programs. It was just people meeting in living rooms.”

Life Groups, then, are the embodiment of what the early church was all about. At The Mount, these small groups produce a non-threatening environment for non-believers and believers alike to share their despairs, failures, hopes, dreams and triumphs. To drive home the point that Christians are called to belong in a meaningful way to a local body of Christ, Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life, quoted Ephesians 2:19:

You are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.

Ephesians 2:19

So, as we should make other Christians feel welcome in our own households, they are also part of God’s family.

You are called to belong, not just believe.

Even in the perfect, sinless environment of Eden, God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone.’ We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves.

The Bible knows nothing of solitary saints or spiritual hermits isolated from other believers and deprived of fellowship. The Bible says we are ‘put together, joined together, built together, members together, heirs together, fitted together, and held together and will be caught up together.’ You’re not on your own anymore.

The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren

point to ponder

Consequently at The Mount, many of the original life group leaders who started as leaders five years ago, are still leaders. While there is nothing wrong with this, God continually calls all of us to grow up in Christ and to serve in the church according to your spiritual gifts and talents. If you have a knack for teaching and taking on leadership roles, as yourself how God might help you either help to teach a life group or spring up a new one. If you don’t have that knack, pray for those who do that they might come forward and take on that role.

prayer

Father, thank you for providing us with the early church’s example of fellowship and love among groups of believers. I pray that our life groups at The Mount would continue to grow and become more vibrant in the community. I pray that you would call more leaders into this ministry according to your will so new life groups might be formed and more people would not only be able to fellowship and learn about you on a more personal level, but that others might also come to know you. In Christ’s name…