by Michael Kelley
“Does it really matter?”
I’ve had that thought while driving home after a long day at work, knowing that in just a few minutes the doorbell will start ringing, and 15 adults and another 15 children will be in my living room for our weekly small group.
When I’m tired, when I don’t know if I have the energy to take more prayer requests or lead another discussion, I wonder, Does it really matter?
Probably most small group leaders do.
The answer is yes. These groups matter, and they matter greatly. The writer of Hebrews, in his letter filled with exhortations of perseverance to a church undergoing persecution, reminded us very practically that we must anchor ourselves in community if we don’t want to drift from Jesus:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV).
It’s a simple command—keep showing up. Meet together regularly. And, I would say, especially in small groups. Here are three reasons.
1. A small group is where we are discipled.
The words of Hebrews 10 show there is a greater purpose for our gatherings than just hanging out. In these groups we are to spur one another on and encourage one another to love. This is discipleship, and it happens together.
The small group is where we can’t remain anonymous. Instead, it forces us to come out of ourselves and to encourage and seek encouragement from others as we grow together toward Christlikeness.
The book of Hebrews is about growing, and growing together. These verses position our gathering together as one of the means by which we grow as disciples.
2. A small group is where we mirror God’s image.
A deeply theological reality happens in small groups. If we go back to the beginning, when God created everything from the antelope to the zebra, we find a unique attribute in the crown jewel of His creation.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth” (Genesis 1:26).
Scholars have debated for centuries the full implications of what it means to be created in the image of God, but surely at least part of it is humans’ unique capacity, desire, and even need to live together in community. In short, we were not created to be alone. The way we relate to one another, as Christians, mirrors the Trinitarian relationship.
Something deep happens when we meet in groups. We aren’t simply getting to know one another. We aren’t just sharing about our lives. And we aren’t just keeping an appointment. We are mirroring the image of God.
3. A small group is where we are reminded.
We are forgetful creatures, no matter if we’ve been in the faith for decades. Something happens in our lives, some circumstance overwhelms us, and we tend to forget.
We forget God loves us. We forget He takes care of us. We forget He will forgive us. And when we forget, God gives us the gift of one another to remind us. Consider the words of John:
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:9-12).
In these verses, we find the definition of love in the cross of Jesus Christ. But then we learn God’s love is “perfected” when we love one another.
John is pointing us to the nature of God’s love. In times when we are prone to forget God loves us, the invisible love of God becomes visible through the way we interact with one another.
In other words, we have an opportunity in our groups to remind one another of the invisible reality of God.
Let’s not give up meeting together. Let’s instead understand the essential nature of these meetings for discipleship, for mirroring God’s image, and for reminding us of that which we are so prone to forget.
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Michael Kelley (@_MichaelKelley) is director of Groups Ministry at Lifeway Christian Resources.
