Creative Community

A friend once suggested to me that some of the discipleship methods we had been taught in college and seminary were creating Christians who were "100 verses overweight". It's a funny mental picture, but it's also probably a sad reality. I am sometimes afraid that we have churches full of people who know the Bible from cover to cover but have no idea how to live it out. Small Groups should be the lab where people figure out how to live the things they are learning. A Sunday (or Saturday) sermon which feeds your mind is great, but what you do with it is most important. Hopefully, your small group is helping you to digest the teaching, and then invest it in your daily living. The other day I came across this blog post about a group who couldn't invest in their neighbors or community because they were too busy with nightly Bible studies. Studying the Bible is great, but at some point, you have to put it into practice. I've summarized some of the content below, but...

These are some great thoughts from the Disciple Making Leaders blog: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.” —John 13:1b Jesus showed His disciples the “full extent of His love” by taking up a towel and wash basin and scrubbing their feet. He then instructed them to follow His example. This snapshot from the life of Jesus and His disciples reminds me of some very important principles… First, Jesus did life in a small group. Jesus didn’t take a towel and basin into the multitudes. He took His towel and basin to His small group. Jesus had compassion on the masses, but the full extent of His love was demonstrated to those with whom He had a relationship. Are you close enough to a small group of people that you could wash their feet? Is your life filled with a handful of relationship that are so close you want to express the full extent of your love? Secondly, Jesus served those with whom He shared community. Community is not ab...