G – In 2010 LifeWay Research set out to discover what were the essentials in churches that were seeing Spiritual Transformation take place. One thing that consistently showed up was the importance of living in a healthy Christian community. Churches that are intentional about seeing people get connected to other believers (LifeWay termed this as relational Intentionality) were also seeing believers maturing and growing in their faith. A few years later, Ed Stetzer and Eric Geiger co-authored a book that expanded on this called “Transformational Groups”, I highly recommend it.
In their book, Geiger and Stetzer write that “Group involvement makes attendees more likely to be intentional in spending time with other believers”, and the result is seen in spiritual growth. Being involved in a small group (community) allows a person to not just hear God’s word, but apply it in our daily lives, and experience others doing the same. I believe this is the church that we read about in Acts 2, and the church that God desires for believers today.
How do you live out this kind of community? In the “one-another” passages we can find examples, and here are a few:
- Love one another (John 13:34-35)
- Confess your sins and pray for one another (James 5:16)
- Care for one another (1 Peter 5:14)
- Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
And others… you get the point, God never intended us to live life in isolation, we are designed to live and serve in community!
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