Community

Last night our church started a new community group. A community group is where a lot of church really happens. Rather than a larger, impersonal setting with lots of people, it’s a smaller, more personal setting. It’s where life-on-life relationships can really happen. Community groups have played such an enormous role in my own life that I’ll forever be completely sold on their tremendous value.

We started small, but that’s okay. In fact, that’s kind of the point! Carolyn and I host the group at our house in Ocean Pines on Tuesday evenings.

One of the things we talked about last night was how the point of this isn’t just to have another routine Bible study and prayer group. I don’t want us to get in a rut where we all show up and act polite, shoot the breeze, eat brownies at 6:35 and pray at 6:55 and run through a list of prepared questions. Instead I picture this group really being a community–getting together for dinner, having game nights, going to movies, being honest with each other, sharing our struggles, and being there for each other. It can’t be just about that once-a-week meeting.

For the Bible study portion of our gatherings, we’re reading little by little through the Gospel of Mark; and instead of me asking all the questions and sharing my thoughts, I’m asking other group members what questions and thoughts they have. For most of the history of the church, people came together to the Scriptures to discover together how we can learn and live the Word of God. Nothing like a community group to really be the church, grow together, and practice all the “one anothers” found throughout the Bible.

I’m so excited about the new group! I’ve really missed being part of a small community over the summer.