Skip to main content

Getting the BIG PICTURE!

Communities Connecting to God and Others

Maybe you've spent some time thinking about how LIFEGroups fit into the "BIG PICTURE" at Calvary? The following thoughts might help you work through some of the ideas, as well as to help you consider your role in helping people connect to God and others.

  1. We envision connecting people to God. (Matthew 28:19-20)
  1. True connection to God happens through discipleship (Matthew 28:19-20). Discipleship is dependent on relationships. Therefore we desire to connect people to one another.
  1. We believe these connections can be identified in three relationships every Christ-follower engages in:
    1. A relationship with God which is characterized by love. (Mark 12:30)
    2. A relationship with our neighbors which is characterized by love. (Mark 12:31)
    3. A relationship with other believers which is characterized by love. (John 13:34)
  1. We recognize that significant development of relationships in a large church is often hampered by the size of the church. Therefore we desire to be a church consisting of many different smaller communities.
  1. Our desire is to be “Communities Connecting to God and Others”.
  1. We attempt to clarify the process of discipleship by identifying five activities in which every follower of Christ should participate.
    1. Explore. Every person should take stock of their current state, examine the offer Christ extends, and seek understanding of the commitment required to enter the kingdom of God.
    2. Launch. Once convinced, every convert to the way of Jesus should publicly declare their new relationship with Jesus and His church through the sacrament of baptism.
    3. Spiritual FormationPartner. Because the Christian life is best lived in shared relationship with other believers, every Christ-follower should identify themselves with a community of believers for the purpose of being formed to the image of Christ and of being a formative influence in the lives of others.
    4. Serve. Because Christ is lord of all we have (our resources, our gifts, our time, etc.), we are to utilize all we have in the way we believe Jesus would. Therefore, since the example of Jesus was one of sacrifice and service, every believer should seek to use all their resources to sacrificially serve all with whom they come into contact.
    5. engage the worldEngage. The true sign of a kingdom subject is multiplication. Those who have accepted life of Christ in place of their own demonstrate their faith by acting like Christ in the world. In death, Christ redeemed sinners, thus we seek to bring that redemption to all within our circles of influence. Throughout his life, Christ relieved suffering, thus we strive to relieve suffering whenever we encounter it.
7. To better enable the people of Calvary to participate in these activities we have determined to utilize our corporate resources and energy to grow formative, caring, and missional communities to foster the spiritual development of our people.

8. The foundational identity of our communities is “a group of individuals sharing their lives together for the glory of God.”

9. We believe that communities which are effectively growing together spiritually will exhibit a healthy balance of the following three characteristics:

    1. Spiritual formation. All community members will build into each others lives enabling each member to open themselves to the work of the Holy Spirit as He forms them to the image of Christ who is the perfect representation of the Father. This formative activity may happen through a variety of means including, but not limited to: Bible study and application, prayer together, Scripture memorization, accountability relationships, meditation, times of encouragement, and more.
    2. Caring relationships. The needs of every community member are regularly met as each person in the community exercises their gifts. Following the example of the Acts church, as community members help one another discover their gifts, they will become better equipped to use the diversity of their gifts to ensure no one goes without.
    3. Missional activities. Every community recognizes the importance of thinking beyond simple meetings. Thus, a key focus of the community is encouragement and training toward sharing the Gospel. Following the example of Christ, each community sets aside time regularly to meet the needs of others outside the group and outside the church.
* there will likely be more in this series, but it may not be for a while!

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
3 comments
Read more

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:
1 comment
Read more

SOAPY Bible Study

In the past, I've written about and talked about the SOAP method of Bible study. This is a simple Bible study method which can be utilized by an individual or a small group. All you need is a passage of Scripture and 15-30 minutes (a journal is helpful). Many churches use this method of Bible study for their groups. Some have modified the SOAP method by adding a Y. Read more about it below: This Bible study is an intentional focused effort of growing in the understanding of the scriptures. This form of study will assist in the transformation of our inner lives as we mature in understanding and in faith. Set aside 15 minutes every day for the study. You might want to take more time after you have gotten started. Don’t overload yourself in the beginning. Keep a “soapy” journal because there will be the need to write everyday. As you develop your routine, share what you are learning with your Discipleship Group, Sunday school class, Circle, other groups in which y...
1 comment
Read more