Most pastors have a long "wish list" for the churches they lead. They would like to see the people of their congregations involved significantly with one another, growing powerfully in spiritual things, dynamically serving God, more faithful in attendance, and many other things.

True, biblical community brings all these things — quickly. (We are not talking about fellowship here, for this term has been watered down to triviality.) Therefore, most pastors deeply desire community for their churches. Yet, they don’t know they want and need community. But, if you want the products (rapid spiritual growth, body-life love, secure marriages, happy families, etc.), you’ve got to want the process. The way to the things pastors want is not magic or programs — it’s the process of community. Authentic, bona fide community as taught in the Bible is what must happen in our churches.

The Bible assumes we would automatically know that biblical community is that system of interactions and relationships among believers that brings pleasure to God. That we occasionally get together for a meal or to have fun does not much thrill our Lord. If we examine the list of things God has asked us to do with one another, we immediately realize that we offer Him very little — and much of that is not highly significant or long-lasting or sacrificial.

Unfortunately, pastors can easily get frustrated and settle for the little their flock produces. Some pastors in denial redefine their church’s level of spirituality as significant in order to not give up and to be able to keep on going.

But the good news (not the really good news of the gospel) is that community is not all that hard to get going. The bad news is that we church leaders do all the wrong things. We actually behave in ways taught us by our culture that are anti-community.

But the good news is that research seems to show that people outside of the church want community. (Examine the popularity of television sitcoms like Friends.) Coming from broken and dysfunctional homes, non-Christians want a sense of family. So do some of the Christians in our churches. The bad news is that community costs. And people have not been prepared to pay the cost. They have become addicted to mediocrity, committed to comfort, and over-motivated for pleasure.

The good news is that the cost of community can be more pleasurable than most pleasures and more spiritually significant than typical mediocrity. Yet, the bad news is that the significance and pleasure is more akin to an exciting, heart-in-your-stomach amusement park ride than the slow drive in the country to which we are accustomed.

The good news is that pastors will love to do the things I shall soon suggest. Their jobs will expand in significance and results while their workload will shrink. And, one last time, the bad news is that church members unconsciously like being over-dependent on their pastors. They like the pastor doing all the difficult things. Therefore, some initial resistance to "what is good for them" will occur, since most of us are still children drinking only the milk of the Christian life.

But, and here I speak to pastors, it is well worth your effort to break away from the choking, confining over-dependencies of your congregation. It is best for you. More importantly, it is best for the people of your church. Most importantly, it is best for God.

How can pastors help people in their churches have a better awareness of one another, take more interest in the success of one another, help out more often with the struggles of life that leave broken hearts and ruined lives, and work together powerfully on the mission of the church? How can pastors help build community in their churches? Here are some things you can do as a pastor to lovingly and gently lead your flock toward community.

[1] TEACH COMMUNITY

Pastors must actively and intentionally battle the prevailing culture when they teach and preach. Pastors need to teach more of the overwhelming plurality and community in Scripture and less about individualistic Christianity.

The Scriptures have much to say about how we should consider and interact with one another in the church. Most of what is said is the opposite of what our culture says to us. But, you and I (if we are living in the States or Europe) are continually immersed in this same community-destroying culture. Like a fish is unaware of water, we are largely ignorant of our culture’s poison.

In Western society people enter church on Sunday morning, bringing with them the best and the worst of our Western culture. The worst is that they come with biblical values incorrectly converted to or superceded by western cultural values. Unfortunately, American values have pretty convincingly been exposed to be the opposite of Jesus’ value system.

There are many values that fight against Christian community. Most potent is our value of individualism. Our value system is oriented more to the individual than to groups (family, church, society, etc.). Our desire, almost demand, for autonomy makes it very difficult for Christians to live in true, biblical community.

The culture of Bible lands held to a different value system, one much more in line with the teachings of our Lord. Community included little autonomy and much more concern for others, especially for groups to which people belonged. The Mediterranean value system’s primary value was "honor", especially the honor of the extended family and the groups a person belonged to. The secondary value was "shame", something that our culture tries to extinguish. In contrast, many say the primary value of America is "efficiency" and the secondary value is "productivity". Not much the same are they?

Most destructive is that our culture causes us to read our Bibles incorrectly. Pastors need to depend more on their Greek translations to identify the overwhelming plurality in Scripture. The English language does not distinguish well between singular and plural pronouns as well as singular and plural verbs.

A critical example of this problem is 1 Corinthians 10:12,13. Verse twelve is in the Greek singular. Verse thirteen switches to the Greek plural. Grasp the critical significance with my clarification in brackets: "So, if you [individual Christian] think you [individual Christian] are standing firm [alone], be careful that you [individual Christian] don’t fall! No temptation has seized [all of] you [together] except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you [the Corinthian church acting together] be tempted beyond what you [together] can bear. But when you [collectively or the individual in community] are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you [together] can stand up under it." (NIV)

It makes all the difference in the world to see the switch from the singular in verse twelve to the plural in verse thirteen. Just as Eve was unable without Adam’s help to resist the devil’s temptation in the Garden of Eden, so will we individual Christians fail if we live too independently. Just as Adam and Eve’s strength was in helping one another, which sadly they forgot, the individual Christian’s strength lies in community. Through deeper relationships with other believers, the community is much stronger than any individual can be.

Church members have been raised in one of the most individualistic societies the world has ever known. Most are not even aware that the original language of the Bible (Hebrew and Greek) made clear distinctions between singular and plural. Even when plurality is absolutely clear in English translations, westerners distort the meaning because of the culture’s blindness. For example, Isaiah 40:31 is obvious in its plurality. It talks of "eagles" (plural), and yet over 90% of the pictures with this verse show only one eagle. If the Bible is telling us to wait on the Lord or hope on the Lord (whichever translation you prefer) together, waiting alone or autonomously is perhaps disobedience, certainly the inferior method.

With this in mind, here are some things pastors can do to teach community in their churches.

(A) Do not give singular meaning to plural passages in Scripture. Check with your Greek translation or be very mindful of the context. You can also check the old King James Bible which always uses "thee" and "thou" for singular and "ye" and "you" for plural. But be careful to resist interpreting the plural to mean each of you individually within the larger whole. That may be a secondary meaning, but I don’t think it is usually the primary meaning. The context should make it clear. Read Joshua, Chapter Seven and see how Israel was held responsible for the private sin of Achan who secretly stole some of Jericho’s plunder. Note how many people died as God punished the nation. Then, let this be a warning about leaving out the church’s holiness and only teaching individual holiness.

(B) Sermon illustrations of Christians living in community (marriages, families, together at work, in the church) are critical. Never pass up a Sunday without a few illustrations of community.

Give plural applications for all Bible passages clearly in the Hebrew or Greek plural. Hardly mention the application to the individual Christian’s life outside of Christian community or outreach to non-Christians. Instead, emphasize applications to life within the marriage, family , small group and church relationships.

Let’s use as an example Matthew 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Note the three words "we" in verse 31 which provide a plural context. Also, my Greek tools point out that the word "you" is in the Greek singular but is enclitic, meaning that it loses its meaning to the previous word, which is the verb "seek" with a plural ending. My best guess is that seeking is primarily a plural activity done in community, but has a good deal of individual responsibility attached.

Teach that the individual can only seek the kingdom a small amount alone. Someone outside of a kingdom might alone be looking for its boundary. But, even then, the real kingdom is not the territory but the King and his subjects. Tell how Jesus in Luke 17:20, 21 states that we cannot see the kingdom of God because it is within us. (The "you" here is plural. And the word is really "of you" as in the midst of you.) That part of the kingdom of God Jesus is speaking of consists of the relationships among us. This may explain Jesus’ promise of his special presence among us when two or more gather in his name. (Matthew 18:20)

When you give life applications for seeking together his kingdom and righteousness, give at least one example of the marriage seeking, one of the family seeking, one of two or more Christians gathered in body or spirit, and a last example of your church together seeking the Kingdom. For example, a married couple seeks God’s kingdom and righteousness when they work hard to forgive one another without having to be asked. (Col 3:13) A family might seek God’s kingdom and righteousness when they speak to one another truthfully and helpfully. (Eph 4:15, 25, 29) A group of two or more Christians might seek God’s kingdom and righteousness when they examine one another’s faith. (2 Cor 13:5) A whole church might seek God’s kingdom and righteousness when they pray for missionaries. (Col 4:3,4) Actually, seeking God’s kingdom and kingdom righteousness involves in some way all 65 of the Togethers of Scripture the Lamb’s Bride Project has identified.

(C) Teach that individual spiritual growth is dependent upon the spiritual growth of your church. Explain what Philippians 1:6 really means. "... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." The "you" is plural, as is every "you" except one in the whole letter to the Philippian church. Of course, it is plural: this is just the third sentence in a letter to a church. Why do we always hear sermons that only apply this verse to individual Christian growth? It is about church spiritual growth! And it teaches something sociologists all know — that the social group or organization influences individual behavior much more than the individual affects the group or organization. Philippians 1:6 clearly teaches that God completes churches. Individuals are completed within this process of church completion. If your church is not being completed, your individual members are not either (unless they are members of some other regular gathering of Christians that is being completed more rapidly).

Teach your church what will be necessary for the good work of God to be completed. This also involves all of the 65 Togethers of Scripture, and perhaps some others we have overlooked. Specifically teach that not much individual completion will occur for those who do not join a small group community. It is in a small group that does more than study the Bible — a group that goes beyond Bible study into Bible obedience when together — that the kind of tensions and problems arise that push individual Christians to be more forgiving, more concerned for others, more confrontive in love, etc.

[2] STOP TREATING FELLOWSHIP AS IF IT IS COMMUNITY

I distinguish between fellowship and community in this way.

FELLOWSHIP occurs when Christians meet either in larger groups or small groups without the purpose of significant involvement in one another’s personal lives. Such a group might be the whole congregation or a sizeable portion thereof, or even a church committee. Actually most church groups are fellowships -- but not communities. Keep in mind that programs and activities are not fellowship, only occasions for fellowship. If church members are using such informal times together as occasions to draw closer to one another in Christ, fellowship is occurring. If such times are primarily for entertainment, recreation, or individual spiritual growth, a little fellowship might occur, but genuine biblical fellowship does not happen to any great extent.

To avoid self-criticism and make it easier on ourselves, we define community as fellowship. Many churches I have visited call potluck and covered dish suppers "community". These are important activities, but on the hierarchy of human relationships, they score very low in community.

COMMUNITY is generally only possible in small group meetings of 6 to 12 people where an attempt is made toward significant involvement of group members in each others’ lives. This will require implementing those things Christians are commanded to do when they get together; what we call "The Togethers". This kind of community will glorify God and meet the personal needs of group members.

Fellowship gives Christians a sense of belonging while community gives them a sense of personal involvement. Both are to be done through God’s power in the Holy Spirit and in accordance with God’s nature. But anything less than taking responsibility for helping one another’s life with Jesus Christ is not community!

Fellowship is the least risky portion of community. It is the "nice and easy" part. In fellowship the instructions of Scripture relating to how Christians are to be involved in one another’s lives are obeyed only superficially, and, thus, comfortably. Encouraging words might be spoken during a fellowship gathering. Most likely, real encouragement is absent or we really have to make "a mountain out of a mole hill" to call something encouragement. Thus, a smile might be called encouraging. But with respect to the Bible’s instruction for encouragement, it doesn’t pack much wallop.

On the other hand, community involves a sense of ownership in one another’s lives and a strong desire for each other’s successful obedience to the Lord. Community involves letting people in to ever deeper parts of our lives because community demands it. Community recognizes that the good of the community, in this case the church, depends on interaction and relationship, not autonomy. Christian community recognizes that it takes all of us to follow the Lord and be His Church. Encouragement in community means putting courage into one another for the assignments of God. This is why Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not give up meeting together so that we can encourage one another. We need each other to help us acquire the powerful courage we need to be the kinds of fathers, mothers, children, bosses, brothers and sisters in the Lord, and witnesses to the world God wants us to be.

So, it is very important that pastors stop calling fellowship, "community". This takes courage, because "fun and fellowship" are what we do best. Churches need, if anything, to do more fellowship. But they need to know that fellowship is the start of a process and goes only a short distance on the road to that true, biblical community we hear of in the Book of Acts and as instructed throughout the pages of the New Testament.

[3] EXPECT COMMUNITY

Pastors must expect community. Too often pastors preach as though it is optional to do more than just learning truth. Pastors must preach like they expect people in their churches to flesh out what they have learned in both the larger congregation and the church’s small groups and committees.

(A) Pastors must stop acting content when their church members learn what they are teaching but do not put it into practice. They must act sad when God’s Word is merely learned. In their sermons they can express this sadness, by saying something like, "It saddens me that few of us really ask how one another is growing in his or her faith." When pastors see or hear that many have applied the preaching to their life in their marriages, families and the church, they should be ecstatic. People need to be given positive reinforcement when something is done correctly.

(B) Pastors must "live" community. They must ask others for help and not feel hesitant to inconvenience others. They must openly model the Togethers of Scripture. All 65 can, in one way or the other, be modeled from the pulpit as well as in the pastor’s interactions with others.

Often pastors hesitate to ask church members (other than those who readily volunteer) to take on responsibilities in the church. However, God wants to say to each of them, "Well done, good and faithful servant." But God will not lie. For every member of the church to thrill to that most-desired compliment from the Lord, it is necessary that church leadership guide every member into his or her own place of usefulness in the body. There are gentle, yet convincing ways to do this. Pastors must inconvenience their people. God’s pleasure, not man’s comfort, is the issue here.

(C) Expect every member to serve the church community. Don’t ask people if they will take a position, ask what position they would like to take to serve the others of the church. Especially if membership vows include a promise to serve in the church, make sure you do not forget to ask every member to serve. Otherwise, they may believe you think they are not good enough or talented enough to serve.

And try not to under-utilize people. While it is common to overwork a few church members, it is also common to not utilize people at their skill level. Even though everyone might have to do something menial, try to give assignments just a little beyond easy reach so that people see that they are growing and contributing significantly.

(D) Expect everyone who is not homebound to be in a small group community that gets more serious about giving God what He wants. This will be more than mere Bible study and an occasional "love one another" action.

Getting everyone into a small group community will not happen easily. But, if you want a church full of community and one that worships the Lord through relationships among members, then you must patiently tell church members that you expect them soon to join a small group meeting for community and obedience to the 65 Togethers.

At first, when you are just beginning to explain the Scriptures as mandating community, I would gently encourage people to join a small group where there will be a little Bible study and a whole lot of loving one another. As your teaching and preaching develops, make your exhortations stronger. If every Sunday you give examples and illustrations that show the benefits of loving one another in community, you will be giving more and more reasons for people to join a small group community.

Eventually, you will need to meet with the most resistant people. Ask them why they are not wanting to get into a group that will help them personally. Begin with what they tell you. That is the place to start ministering. Since, if done correctly, most church members will be ministered to in their groups, you should have lots of time for those who are resistant to open up about their faith. These are usually the ones who need a pastor the most.

Churches call these small group communities by many titles. I would avoid Bible Study Group since that has historical connotation that only Bible study and not Bible obedience will be done. I have heard such groups called Home Churches, Care Groups, Small Groups, Small Group Communities, Home Groups, Together Groups, Cell Groups, etc. What they are called is not as important as what all they do when they meet.

There is a way to get homebound people into small group communities. Have each one adopted by a small group community. The small group then includes that person as they might involve a homebound grandparent in their families. People in the small group call on the telephone and visit. They take care of a few home maintenance needs. They ask the homebound person to pray.

And the resistant person can also be included in a small group community. Here again, each group adopts a person or couple not in a group and invites them to group socials. The hope is that the person or couple will become comfortable and join that group or another if that group is full.

A church might have small group communities that operate at various levels of personal involvement. And there might be groups that orient around service projects for the needy or outreach to the secular community.

A way to naturally get new members into small group communities is to change the New Member’s Class to a New Member’s Small Group Community. You can do the same thing the class does, but add to the agenda getting them to give one another loving help and prayer support. At the end of the two or three-month period, ask them if they would like to continue on as one of the church’s small group communities. If so, assign someone who has been in training for small group leadership. Those who need a different community can be assigned elsewhere. The hope is that, having been exposed to community instead of a class on the church, these new people will want to join a small group community.

(E) Have community with your elders and deacons and/or church staff.

In my opinion, the best model for small churches is for the pastor and his wife to lead one or two small group communities for the top level of church leaders, be they elders, deacons or something else. If the church board is small, one group meeting every other week will do. Otherwise, a second group will be necessary. In these groups, church leaders can get to know one another significantly and be helpful to each other. Then, each church leader couple should lead a group of small group ministry leaders on the alternate weeks. These small group ministry leaders each lead a community in turn. Some in those bi-weekly groups will lead a group on the "off week". And so on until the whole church is involved. This model requires a weekly commitment for all church leaders. In Bible days, Christians probably got together more than once a week. Serious Christianity probably requires weekly community. Using this model, most church members can be members of one group and leaders of another. (Our audiotape set titled Crash Course on Small Group Leadership explains why a leader should not be a member of the group he or she leads.)

Large churches can begin with the Senior Pastor and his wife leading a group for other pastors and their wives. Then each pastor and his wife take a group of church leaders. And so on, as described in the preceding paragraph.

[4] STOP FOCUSING ON INDIVIDUALS — FOCUS ON BUILDING YOUR CHURCH

You cannot build individuals and the church. Your individualistic focus will negate church community. But you can build your church in the way of community and individuals will grow even faster and stronger than if you focused on them as individuals. When you focus on community, you focus on individuals as members in community. All you really lose is the unbiblical aspect of autonomy.

Almost everything done in the church is done for individuals. This is a big mistake. Lead individuals and that’s all you get — individuals led toward spiritual growth. On the other hand, lead the church, lead small groups as groups, lead teams as teams rather than collections of individuals and you get a powerful church, a capable small group or team. And within the ever more spiritual church, small group or team, individuals also grow spiritually.

The two main activities of most churches are aimed at individuals. These are worship and education. Individuals are the target of ministry. Not marriages. Not families. Not Christians in groups, on teams, or in the interaction of friendships. The result is that individuals are catered to and a church reaps only a few superstar Christians, not a vibrant church.

The one area where church focus is usually not on individual Christianity might be prayer in the worship service. Whoever is leading the prayer most likely recognizes the whole church as a living entity. And so, hopefully following the model of the Lord’s Prayer, the first person plural "we" is used throughout, as in, "Lord, we ask you to ...."

(A) If pastors want their people to worship "truly together" in song, some changes will need to be made. For a congregation to sing before the Lord properly, the individuals must be very aware of the collective. It is best if all present are aware that together a joyful noise is rising to heaven, and that melody is not heard by God from the individual’s lips. No, God delights most in his people. Therefore, the sound he listens to is all of the voices blended together. All of the songs in heaven recorded in the book of Revelation are plural; there is not a singular pronoun in any of them. The Lord loves His Bride. He wants His Bride to sing to Him.

The pastor can make congregational singing a more pure church offering to the Lord by this really courageous act that must be done consistently week after week after week. The singular words that predominate our hymns and choruses must be changed to the plural. If the congregation is to begin to think "community" and to value the church over the individual, then, when together, they need to sing, "Jesus loves us, this we know...." Think how it destroys a sense of community to be together and sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know...."

The singular in songs for church worship is just an example of how our culture elevates the individual. Is it any wonder that individuals so often have just tentative commitment to the church? Singular applications to Bible teaching and preaching added to singing songs in the singular cause people to think of themselves rather than the fellowship. These things undermine the "Love one another" commands and much of the worship God desires. Too often people join a church as a consumer — purchasing with their time a place for them to worship individually. Joining a church should only mean joining a people of God.

To help church members think of the church singing together rather than just being aware of their own singing, occasionally have the choir director or worship leader lead the whole congregation as a choir.

(B) Teach your people that worship is much more than songs and praying. Show them from Amos, Chapter Five how God will not listen to songs and prayers if relationships among his people are not what he has commands.

Individual focus, such as our songs encourage, destroys most of our opportunities to worship. If we define worship as reflecting back to God his own nature, attributes and character, then each one of the 65 Togethers are acts of worship. Church members have the opportunity to stretch the hour or two-hour Sunday worship service to ten to fifty hours of worship a week. (See Lamb’s Bride Report CC 001.)

For example, let’s take one of the five Togethers that Heal, Hurt with One Another (1 Cor 12:26). Nothing is worse than hurting alone. Christians need to support one another through life's most painful experiences. It is a privilege of the abundant life to feel another's pain and share his or her sadness. God has given us the compassion in community to hurt with one another. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his great compassion for us in that He goes through our hurts with us.

Since 26 of the Togethers will disappear at death (will not be done in a sinless heaven), now is the time for Christians to think less of their own individual spiritual growth and more of giving God worship through the many things He has commanded us to do together that reflect his own character. An additional 26 have important aspects that must be done in a sinful world with sinful people to reflect God’s graciousness with sinners.

(C) Preach to your church as a living organism. Stop talking most to individual members. Talk to the whole of your church. Say things like, "This passage of Scripture means that all of you need to ...." Or, "God seems to be saying to our church, ‘Do this or Think this or Have this attitude....’"

(D) Try not to focus on the question, "What do individuals need?" Instead, spend time considering what the church needs. Do not define the church as an organization, building, or time on Sunday if you want community. Instead, define the church with the biblical perspective — the church is active whenever two or more Christians think of one another or are physically in the same place or are working together on some ministry. Instead of thinking so much about individuals, think of marriages, families, friendships (even children’s friendships), small groups, ministry teams, church staff, and when two or more Christians work at the same employment location. Give Scriptural applications to community in all of these relationships and only occasionally to the autonomous individual.

[5] CONNECT PEOPLE TO ONE ANOTHER

Members of the local church need to be vitally connected to one another by more than mere membership. Take for example the largest life form on earth. This is reported to be an aspen grove in Utah, thousands of trees connected underground, life-giving moisture and nutrients flowing through roots that constantly give rise to new trees. We need to be like that in our churches. The church should be the largest life form on our planet.

(A) Whenever asked to do something or to give advice or help, the pastor, as well as other church leaders, should refer the person and his or her request on to someone else in the church. This enables community and builds interdependence. If there is no one to whom to delegate, then the pastor should take someone along to train to do it next time.

A cardinal guideline for small group and team leadership, as well as leadership in general is this: NEVER DO ANYTHING ANOTHER PERSON OR GROUP/TEAM CAN DO. To do what another can do is to communicate that you do not want to share ministry or, worse yet, that you do not consider others capable. In churches where church leadership does almost everything, crippling dependency sets in. Eventually, it is like pulling teeth to get people to take jobs in the church.

(B) Whenever someone approaches you for help, personal or spiritual, try to get them to go to their small group community for help. Explain that six or more people will give excellent advice. Mention that, if the group’s help is not sufficient, to come back to you. If the person comes back, then communicate with the small group leader about what needs to be developed so that the small group can help as you have had to do. You really do want your small groups to be this helpful. And, I imagine that you do not want to do all of the work of your church, at least not what the small groups can do.

If you do anything a person’s small group can do, you sabotage community. You also prevent the other group members from growth. Finally, you cannot ever give the amount of help and the variety of help a small group can give. So, the person you help rather than refer to his or her group is robbed of a lot. If you must give some help, try always to send the person back to the small group for whatever else is needed.

It is normal for a person to come to you about a marital problem. Often the greatest help you can give is to help that person know how to approach his or her small group for help or to join a short-term focus group on marriage if both spouses will go, or on being a good wife or husband if only one will face up to the problem. If you must do the counseling, or even if you have to refer to a professional counselor, there are still many, many helpful resources in the small group. Let me mention a few. There must be a hundred. (1) Other group members are probably making mistakes in their marriages. The person’s request for support will bring forth admissions of struggle. The person will not feel so alone. (2) The person will not feel so ashamed when others admit imperfections. (3) Another member might call during the week to encourage and offer advice. (4) Special hospitality will be extended to the hurting couple to give emotional relief. (5) Others will share ideas for possible solutions. (6) Other women will clarify the wife’s viewpoint; other men the husband’s thought pattern.

(C) Occasionally when an urgent situation requires prayer, have everyone in the church touch (hold hands, palm on shoulder, etc.) one another during the prayer. The goal here is for everyone to feel a sense of deeper connection and community. Imagine the impact in a small church when praying for someone who has cancer. Imagine the impact in a large church when praying for an end to some war where lives are being lost tragically. Although it is easier in small churches to do this, large churches can modify the approach.

(D) In a church with small group communities organized as suggested above, a weekly or bi-weekly Small Group Leaders Meeting can hook everyone together. Besides some small group leadership training, time can be taken for small group leaders to tell of needs of members of their group where the group’s resources are inadequate. Suppose that a person in the Ephesians 2:10 Small Group Community has lost his job and needs a professional resume. No one in that group has the skills to design it. The leader of the Ephesians 2:10 group asks the other small group leaders to search their group membership for someone to help. This kind of coordination can be done even better with a Small Group Leaders Private E-mail Discussion Group.

(E) Each small group community should do a service project for the church once a year. For example, the Luke 9:23 Small Group Community might polish the pews.

(F) Each small group community can take a country (large church) or continent (really small church) to pray for on behalf of the whole church. During the worship service once a month or more often, a member of one of the small group communities can lead the congregation in prayer for that group’s country or countries. (In the same way, small group communities can adopt an unreached people group.) When it comes time for a missions conference, it can easily be put on by all of the small group communities. A missionary speaker will be nice, but not at all necessary.

(G) The same method can be used for missionaries supported by the church. A missionary family can be adopted by each small group community. That group can keep in touch with the missionary and be the church’s contact point for prayer and special needs. A different group can lead congregational prayer for a missionary every other week. When a special need arises, that small group can organize a fund-raiser or approach the church youth group to do so.

(H) Instead of large, less-personal church suppers, the small group ministry can organize socials every other month where two small group communities get together for food and fun. (This leaves every other month for each small group community to have their own private social event.) Over the course of a year, six different matches would help many people get to know others in the church a whole lot better than a large church picnic. However, large fellowships can still be done, but are not necessary.

(I) I once organized what I called Project Share. We took the index of a JC Penney store and handed out copies. Church members circled things they would be willing to loan to others in the church (example: post hole digger). Then a store was distributed. People often borrowed things for one-time use. Poorer church members thus had access to recreational equipment they otherwise could not afford (example: ice cream maker).

[6] DISCIPLE PEOPLE IN GROUPS AS DID JESUS

People are better discipled in groups where there are constant problems to deal with that require the development of Christian disciplines. This was the method Jesus used. Note in the New Testament how seldom Jesus talked to one of the twelve and how much more often he addressed the whole group of disciples. I would imagine that the biblical record shows a ratio of less than 1 to 10.

Just think of the spiritual progress Matthew the tax collection and Simon the zealot had to make because Jesus put them in the group together. They most likely hated each other at first. The success of the group of disciples depended on the growth of those two disciples. They had to change.

We are no different. The growth of Christians will only go so far apart from the needs presented by a close group of brothers and sisters in Christ. It is just too easy to isolate ourselves from those difficult situations that require us to grow in faith. Taking responsibility for one another in Christian community forces people out of their comfort zone and into the playing zone.

Make it your policy to assign individual discipleship only for the most difficult believers. And disciple them toward being discipled in a small group community.

Discipleship accelerates in service, especially in outreach. It is a good idea for each small group community to do at least one outreach project a year. For example, the Isaiah 40:31 Group might repair the home of an elderly person referred by the country social services department. Or the Philippians 1:27 Group might set up at the local flea market to give free water to thirsty buyers and sellers. Nothing is so good at maturing us as talking about our Lord and salvation with those who are resistant to the Good News!

[7] CONVERT YOUR SMALL GROUPS TO SMALL GROUP COMMUNITIES

Since almost all Christian groups are in reality Bible study groups, they need to be converted to small group communities for Bible obedience. A whole lot of what God asks us to do are things we must do together. Therefore, we need a whole lot more time together to obey than to learn. In fact, much Bible study can be done quite well with the help of other Christians who have authored commentaries and books. Christians need as much time as they can find to love one another in the many ways God has prescribed.

We would not have a divorce rate as high or higher than nonbelievers if our small groups were more than Bible study groups. If they were communities where small group leaders helped the group to address the marriages of members, our divorce rate would be minuscule. How am I so sure? It is God’s plan. Righteousness comes from group effort, not individual effort. In a group where a husband dismisses his wife’s ideas, loving educational confrontation can turn things in the right direction. Spouses would hardly get close to the unhappiness that leads to extra-marital affairs.

We would not have so many troubled kids if small group communities took responsibility to help each member’s family. Small group community leads to an expanded circle of adult friends for children and teenagers. When kids cannot go to their parents, they can have a number of Christians to pick from for advice.

And it is small group community that is the church’s most vital witness to a watching world. John 13:34,35 makes this clear. Just think of what you can tell your non-Christian friends and relatives about what you do in your Bible studies. If we are honest, what we have to tell them is not all that impressive. That is as Jesus designed it and told us. It is by our love for one another, not our study together, that is the sign that we are His disciples.

We can go to work and tell our non-believing friends that over a weekend we helped a wife understand her husband’s loneliness, painted the whole house of one of our group members, took care of one of our fellow group members’ children so the couple could go away for the weekend, etc. This would impress. What we now have to tell them is not all that impressive. Whole church benevolence does not impress because there are equally generous secular groups. And it does not impress when a large group does something, because the size of the project is dwarfed by the size of the congregation. It does not matter to non-Christians that only a small portion of the church turned out for the project.

It may be difficult to convince those used to studying the Bible in small groups to give up the safety of such activity and get more involved in one another’s success as husband or wife, parent, employee, etc. But, it must be done. There is much to be said about helping groups change to communities, but that will have to be another report from the Lamb’s Bride Project.

Click here to go to the list of available reports.

www.hope2help.com