Skip to main content

What's in a name?

In this blog we have been looking at the question “Why LIFEGroups?” We have talked about how LIFEGroups help connect people at Calvary and how they help people to grow in their faith. There is a another very important reason why Calvary has LIFEGroups. LIFEGroups help people get through the tough times of life.

Every LIFEGroup revolves around three types of relationships. A LIFEGroups helps you live out relationships that are formative, caring and missional. Last we talked about how formative relationships help people grow in their faith. This week we will look at how caring relationships can help us through difficult times in our lives.

Caring happens in a group when the members of the group sacrifice as necessary to meet the needs of one another. Galatians 6:2 says “bear one another’s burdens.” This command is rich in meaning. As Christians we are required to help one another during difficult times. This takes sacrifice. It means giving up our time and our resources to help someone else. Our ultimate example is Jesus bearing our sins on the cross. Jesus was willing to bear our burdens even though it meant his death. Jesus expects us to follow his model of sacrifice in our own community of believers.

The command “bear one another’s burdens” also carries with it an assumption. At some point in our life we are going to have to let other people help us. For some people receiving help is more difficult than giving help. For caring to work, people in community must be willing both to sacrifice for others and at the appropriate time let others sacrifice for them.

LIFEGroups provide the community dynamic needed for the exchange of care to take place. How can you bear someone’s burden if you don’t know what that burden is? And how can you know what the burden is unless you know the person? As people in the LIFEGroup grow together they learn what the needs of the members are and how to best minister to the needs of the members.

When the hard times come, and we know that they will, your LIFEGroup should be a shelter in the storm. Brothers and sisters in Christ should never have to wonder whether or not there will be someone to care for them. Those in our LIFEGroups will help us get through the tough times of life. That is why LIFEGroups.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Discussion Questions for Easter

Have several people ask the question, “What’s the most important thing you’ve ever done?” Ask other people, “What do you hope to accomplish in the next several years of your life?” Tell your class that today you’ll be talking about “life mission” or the one most important thing you do that drives everything else. Tell them that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the defining moment in history, so it should be the defining moment in our lives. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. How does the resurrection impact some of the crucial beliefs of Christianity?  How would Christianity be different if there was no resurrection? How would you be different without the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. What are some specific ways that the resurrection gives us hope? If you had been a friend of Jesus when he was on earth, how would the resurrection have impacted your life?  How do you think his followers then were effected by the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthian...

FIGHT CLUB! (iron sharpening iron)

Our youth pastor, Keith Sandison, has implemented "Fight Clubs" with the young men of our church. While these teenagers and young adults aren't actually pummeling each other physically, they are using the opportunity to aggressively challenge one another to be more attentive to their spiritual formation. Right now my son is participating in a fight club focusing on Proverbs. I love it. Keith has created a handout he uses for the fight clubs which lists seven different methods of "generic Bible study". I think the idea started with this post a few years ago, but as he often does; Keith took my thoughts and made them immensely more substantive and beneficial. Check out his system below:

Community Killers Part Four: Complaining

Nothing can tear a group apart faster or more effectively than a spirit of complaining. For some reason, complaints seem to breed faster than rabbits. Once one person’s complaining goes unchecked, it won’t be long until others have joined in and eventually the entire group is sucked into a hopeless vortex of swirling complaints. Often these complaints have little to do with the group, but they have the potential to sideswipe and destroy a group meeting, or if left unchecked, an entire group. Complaints may cover a variety of subjects. Group members might complain about their job, their day, their neighbor, their spouse, or even the church. The role of the leader is to deal with these complaints in a way which is formative for the person, instructive for the group, and glorifying to God. Because a LIFEgroup should be a place where people share their struggles and receive support and prayer, it can sometimes be difficult to know when someone is sharing a difficulty or...