This part of John Eldredge's book Waking the Dead really hit home with several Connectors who emailed me about the power of community:
Church is not an event that takes place on Sundays. I know,
its how we think of it. "I go to First Baptist." "We are
members of St. Luke's." "Is it time to go to church?" Much to
our surprise, that is not how the Bible uses the term. Not at
all. When the Scripture talks about church, it means
community. The little fellowships of the heart that
are outposts of the kingdom. A shared life. They worship
together, eat together, pray for one another, go on quests
together. They hang out together, in each other's homes. When
Peter is sprung from prison, "he went to the house of Mary the
mother of John…where many people had gathered and were
praying" (Acts 12:12).
Anytime an army goes to war or
an expedition takes to the field, it breaks down into little
platoons and squads. And every chronicle of war or
quest will tell you that the men and women who fought so
bravely fought for each other. That's where the acts
of heroism and sacrifice take place, because that's where the
devotion is. You simply can't be devoted to a mass of people;
devotion takes place in small units, just like a family.
We have stopped short of being an organization; we are
an organism instead, a living and spontaneous association of
individuals who know one another intimately, care for each
other deeply, and feel a kind of respect for one another that
makes rules and bylaws unnecessary. A group is the right size,
I would guess, when each member can pray for every other
member, individually and by name.
This is the wisdom of
Brother Andrew, who smuggled Bibles into communist countries
for decades. It's the model, frankly, of the church in nearly
every country but the U.S. Now, I'm not suggesting you don't
do whatever it is you do on Sunday mornings. I'm simply
helping you accept reality – that whatever else you do, you
must have a small fellowship to walk with you and
fight with you and bandage your wounds. This is essential.
I am so glad that I get to be a part of a biblically-functioning community where real relationships happen in small groups. We believe that every person who attends TCC needs to be a part of one
of these groups, and as we grow larger, we've got to grow smaller by
adding more groups.
We've just taken some big steps with our Connection Groups as we've rolled out several new ones over the last few weeks. Now we're gearing up to launch a new semester of groups.
Check one out this week. You won't regret it. Go here to find out more or to sign up today.