Today’s church has tried
to reach people for Christ in our communities with extravagant church programs
and 21st century methodology. While such methods have their place,
they can never be a substitute for personal relationships formed in the context
of genuine Christian community like the early church demonstrated when they met
in small groups.
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26). The
Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always experienced relationship. They are one.
Shouldn’t we experience the same in the church? God created Adam with the need
for relationship; He said it was not good for him to be alone (see Genesis
2:18). Adam saw his need for relationship. Relationship is an established life
pattern. In the church, leadership is a function put in place to help us flow
together as God’s people.
Even from the earliest of
biblical times, God worked through
spiritual family relationships. In Exodus 18:13-26, Moses receives wise advice
from Jethro, his father-in-law, to release God’s people into accountability
groups to empower people to minister. He indicated there should be groups of
thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. From the very beginning, God had a plan
to ease the load for leaders and keep them from burning out.
When God established His
own people on the earth, He established them in tribes, clans and families. This
was to ensure that every human being had a connection – an identity and
relationship. The Hebrews’ thought patterns were relational in nature. They thought
along the lines of realizing they were in relationship because of who
they knew. Malaysians’ thought is almost the same as the Hebrews’, but because
of the influence of Greek thought or Western thought worldview today, our
thought became more information-based. We thought that we are brought into
relationship with others because of what we know. In Christianity, our
model of relationship with one another is based upon who [Jesus Christ] we
know, not so much about what we know about Him (though it is also important to know what).
Thus, small group Bible
Study should be based on who we know – Jesus Christ, the Word of God.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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