You need to get into a group. You need to prioritize being in a group this year. Why? The best place in the world to grow your faith is in groups! Let me illustrate what I mean…
I read an article a couple weeks ago and was surprised to find out that northern Illinois contains some of the most fertile soil in the world. There are patches of farmland in Argentina, Ukraine and China that are comparable, but according to the article, there’s nothing better in all the world for growing corn and soybeans than the soil of northern Illinois. There’s three reasons why.
- First, apparently glaciers used to cover northern Illinois. When the glaciers moved on, the soil was younger than the southern soil that wasn’t protected by the large sheet of ice.
- Second, huge dust storms have blown mineral rich river basin soil all over northern Illinois.
- Third, instead of forests, northern Illinois has prairie grasslands, which feed the soil crop friendly nutrients.
These three factors make it the best place in all the world to grow crops. Well the question begs: Is there a best place in the world to grow your faith? And the answer is a resounding YES! IN GROUPS! Like northern Illinois, there are certain factors that exist in groups that don’t exist anywhere else – or at least don’t exist in the same way they exist in group. Let me explain. Groups give us the opportunity to:
- admonish one another (Colossians 3:16) If you’re thinking about buying your wife exercise equipment for your anniversary, no one can warn you (not to do that) on Sunday. But in groups all the men can scream “Don’t do it!” 😉
- hold each other accountable (James 5:16) You’re not going to be able to ask about how someone’s New Year’s Resolutions are going in the middle of the sermon – but in groups you’ll have all the time you need.
- be concerned for each other (1 Corinthians 12:25-26). You don’t have time to check in with each on Sunday, but groups provide the perfect time to do this.
- instruct one another (Romans 15:14). The only person giving instruction on Sunday is the pastor, so Sunday isn’t the right time or place to instruct each other. But groups are the perfect time and place.
- pray for each other (James 5:16). If I asked everyone on a Sunday to share their prayer requests and then took time to pray for each need, each service would last four hours. But in group, there’s more than enough time for every person to share their prayer request and be prayed for.
- take Communion together (1 Corinthians 11:24). The Bible says in Acts 2:46 that the first century church “…met in homes for the Lord’s Supper…” The Lord’s Supper is another name for communion. In Bible times they celebrated communion in the home groups, not in the Temple. At New Day we do the same thing. We take communion, not on Sunday, but in our groups. Jesus said of communion in 1 Corinthians 11:24 “Do this in remembrance of me.” It’s a command, not a suggestion. So where are you taking communion if not in your group?
There are 28 unique “one anothers” or “each others” in the New Testament that are best fulfilled in the context of a group…And if you’re not in a group, you literally won’t have the opportunity to obey most of these commands. So for all these reasons and more your group is THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD to grow your faith. Your group simply offers opportunities to grow that you just can’t get anywhere else. As the northern fields of Illinois have THE BEST conditions for growing crops, so your group has THE BEST conditions for growing your faith!
Your next opportunity to sign up for groups is this Sunday January 17, 2016 at 6pm at newdaychurch.cc/groups.