1 John 1:3 – “We proclaim to you that we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ..”
As Christians we are called to go into the world and make disciples. The most significant way to make disciples is by example. People must know that we have experienced Jesus in our own life before they will be able to experience it in their lives.
This is not accomplished in a vacuum. It is accomplished by remaining in community with each other and reflecting our family heritage to each other so that we might reflect it to those who are not yet part of the family.
Since my church is fairly large, they encourage the bonding between Christians by participation in small groups that meet together during the week to go deeper into a relationship with Christ and with each other. This is where the discipleship starts. This is where the reflection of Christ is shown first...before it is shown to the world.
That reflection is accomplished by creating a family bond. We step in to help when a family member has fallen. We have shown up unexpectedly at a member's house to pray with him. We have gone out of our way to transport a family member to small group when she was feeling down and would not come on her own. And we have scheduled social time with each other outside of the small group meeting to celebrate birthdays or holidays.
But, if we do not remain in community with each other…there is no way of knowing what is happening in the lives of our small group members. And there is no way of helping each other. When the world sees us helping each other, they realize the value of being part of this kind of community...and they are drawn into relationship...relationship with us which leads to relationship with Jesus.
My small group has been great at this very thing--outpouring our lives into the lives of the other members. But, we also invite the world into our small community through the social gatherings. It is here that we have the chance to show people who do not yet have relationship with Christ our own relationship allow them to experience our close-knit family. This has fueled the hunger in them for more community like ours. It has also given them a chance to see that we are real people, with real problems who can have real peace...AND WE ARE REAL FUN!
It has been an awesome opportunity for us to be light in this dark world! And I am proud to be a part of this heritage.
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