Back in 1971, about 300 young adults and their babies left the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in brightly colored old school buses and tie-dyed shirts. They crisscrossed the country looking for a perfect place to create a utopian community. Five months later they landed in Summertown, Tennessee, the poorest county in the state. These young adults called their experiment in communal living simply “The Farm.” They jokingly referred to themselves as the “Technicolor Amish.”
They hated the sameness, the dullness, and the blandness of life as they knew it. They were tired of materialistic greed. They wanted to find a place where people helped one another instead of competed with each other. They wanted a just and loving place to raise their children. They wanted to find a place of peace in a world of war and violence. So they moved to Tennessee to find a life rooted in love, compassion and tolerance. The rules were simple. Take a vow of poverty, turn all your possessions and money over to the Farm, be compassionate to each other, and refrain from premarital sex and abortions. The Farm is still going three decades later.
While I have no desire to replicate “the Farm,” and do not believe a “common purse” is the way to go for the vast majority of Christians, there is, nevertheless, something inside of me that resonates when I read about experiments in communal living. I want to be part of something where people genuinely care about each other and each other’s kids; where folks are compassionate and deeply connected to each other; where people are go out of their way to serve those in need; where we don’t measure people by what they own or what degrees are next to their name; where we aren’t so cut off from each other and it’s not “every person for himself.”
A Place to Connect In giving us his Son, Jesus Christ, who reconciled us to God and to each other, God created a new family of love. Part of what it means to be the people of God is that we experience life together as a family. Church is not meant to be a meeting of colleagues or merely fellow worshipers. We are a family. We may all have different earthly fathers, but we all have the same heavenly Father. We are not a perfect family by any means, but then again, what family is? We are a beautiful and wonderful family made up sinners, each one of us a work in progress.
But experiencing life together as a family cannot happen at a huge gathering like our weekend services. We experience family in small, intimate settings where you know everyone and everyone knows you. That’s why we believe that being a part of a small group is absolutely vital. As Andy Stanley, a nationally known pastor, has put it, true community happens when we move from sitting in rows to sitting in a circle. That is what our small groups offer. It is in the context of an intimate community of 6 to 12 people, that we pray for one another, encourage one another, support one another, and speak into one another’s lives. There is no such thing as a Christian without a church family. So, if you don’t have a spiritual family yet, please join a small group. Find your tribe. Find your circle. We all have lots of excuses for not being a part of a small group, but your need for a family is infinitely greater than any excuse that you can come up with. You can find a small group by going online at www.vineyardcolumbus.org.
A Place to Grow
In our modern culture, we have a tendency to view small groups as merely a program within the church – it’s what we do at church. But in the New Testament, it was a way of life for the early church! Doing life together is what enabled the early Christians to authentically live out their faith. It was doing life together that empowered their Christian witness to the world. And it was doing life together that enabled the early Christians to grow. Gilbert Bilezikian, in his book, Community 101, writes:
It is in small groups that people can get close enough to know each other, to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to forgive and be forgiven, to laugh and weep together, to be accountable to each other, to watch over each other and to grow together. Personal growth does not happen in isolation. It is the result of interactive relationships. Small groups are God's gift to foster changes in character and spiritual growth.
It’s a scary thing to be vulnerable and allow ourselves to be known by others. It’s also a scary thing to invest in deep relationship with others. Yet when we take the risk of being authentic with a small group of people, and choose to do life together, we begin to experience healing, transformation, and growth!
A Place to Serve & Lead
I believe that one of the greatest needs in our church and in the world today is leadership. As followers of Jesus, we are called to make a difference in this world for Jesus! We need godly leaders in our schools. We need godly leaders in our businesses. We need godly leaders in our government. And we need godly leaders in our church to lead our small groups, to lead in our different ministries, and to make a difference in the lives of children and adults.
So if you are already serving or leading somewhere in our church or community, thank you! But if you are still sitting on the sidelines, let me challenge you to get in the game. One place you can begin is by attending the upcoming Leadership Conference on October 10-12. The Leadership Conference is a gathering of passionate Christ-followers who long to be influencers and change-agents in this world! It is an opportunity for those of us who have been serving faithfully to be recharged and refreshed so that we can burn brighter for Jesus. And it is also an opportunity for those of us who have been standing on the sidelines to catch a vision of how God can use each of us to make a difference in this world. The conference is open to EVERYONE! We will gather to learn and grow. We will gather to pray and worship. We will gather to be inspired and refreshed. We will gather to meet with God! Come join us as we Encounter God, Expand Our Vision, and Engage the World! Let me encourage you to register at www.theleadershipconference.org.
The New Sermon Series for the Fall
We will be launching a new sermon series at the end of September called, “The Beloved Community.” Everyone wants to belong. People join clubs, teams, civic organizations, political parties, and even get married all with the desire to be part of something. At the core of this is the desire for community, for relationships. While there are many ideas and theories swirling around about what community is, the Bible shows God’s clear intentions for our relationships within the Church, the Beloved Community. In this series, we will look closely at Paul’s letter to the church in Rome as he describes how a Christian community is supposed to act in contrast to the community and relationships in the world.