Hebrews 3:13 tells us to encourage one another daily. This is
one of the important qualifications for a small-group leader – a willingness to
encourage others (besides humble, willing to pray for others, personable and
easy to approach, enthusiastic, and filled with the Spirit). We can all
encourage someone else; and when we sow encouragement, we will eventually reap
what we sow! This happens often outside the actual small-group meeting. Even a
text message of encouragement to someone in your small-group can make all the
difference for them. Everyone gets discouraged at times. Everyone needs friend
who truly cares, who will listen and understand him or her. Hey, relationships
take time to build.
A true leader has a
servant’s heart and is willing to take the time needed to be knit with the
people in his/her small group. Just as it takes several weeks for a broken bone
to heal and knit together, so too it takes time for relationships in the group
to be knit together. The church is built
together through relationships: “From
whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,
according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes
growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).
New Christians especially
need regular encouragement and nurturing because they are like soils that need
good seeds. Maturity doesn’t happen overnight.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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