This new series aligns with the 40 Days of Community program which Clayton Church is pursuing as a church-wide initiative.
We are commissioned to reach out together by using our small/life group. Today’s point to ponder is that “we” is more important than “me”. The key bible verse is from Philippians 1:27b:
You are working together and struggling side by side to get others to believe the good news.
The question to consider is:
Which of your friends and family members can your small/life group begin praying for?
By being in a small group, the power of relationships and intimacy in our connection to one another is strengthened. As a small group, just earlier this year we studied and considered the passage from the Gospels where Jesus instructed his disciples to go to the nearby villages. One of the points made back then which I took to heart was that God did not commission individuals, but he sent us in pairs. Add to this, we bring God with us through the Holy Spirit, and we become the smallest unit a small group can consist of.
Previously, when leading the group on one occasion, I had suggested we simplify and pick one or two individuals to share and pray for. At the time, and this remains true even now, some months later, I feel that God does not call us to stretch ourselves excessively and place ourselves in “deep water” territory where we are isolated and more vulnerable. Instead, through opportunities such as our social nights, and other similar outreach events, we as a small group can slowly invite selected individuals who a few of us know. Through the existing connections, we can then concentrate on providing a quality experience of God’s love and wisdom. The Discovery Bible Study format lends itself to this kind of safe environment.
When we concentrate as a group strategically and intentionally on one or two individuals, God will work clearly and more visibly in their lives. Where these individuals are people of peace, “green lights” to use and borrow some of the other terminology used in the culture of bringing and sharing the Gospel, God is sure to respond to their calls to know and experience God for themselves.
To answer the question specifically, I have intermittently submitted members of my family to experience God for themselves. I once even had a chat online with a relative where their position was clearly not one of peace and openness to the Gospel because of their existing partial knowledge of the Bible and historical impression of the church. My challenge and question to that individual was simply to ignore all the past prejudices and simply ask God or whoever they thought was the supreme being, to show them directly without human intervention and translation. It is my hope that God/Jesus would encounter people because they open their heart and minds to Him.
The trick for myself personally is to be consistent and persistent with these prayer requests – which remain for the same individuals year after year – and to ensure that the pattern and discipline of prayer within the small group is focused for each of our own family and friends.
One of the learnings and observations from my recent family trip to Kuching was that even though the vast majority of people present at the wedding and birthday celebrations were family, there were also friends present beyond the blood ties. Some of these friendships have been interwoven into the family such that they have become a second family to all the relatives. It is this kind of bond that lasts and has application to today’s devotion, where the small group becomes a family unit in its own way.
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