Day of Community

I am so thankful our pastoral staff encouraged our congregants to join a small group for a 5-week exploration into discipling (check out https://multiplymovement.com/vision to see how you can embrace Jesus call to make disciples). In the midst of what seemed like a chaotic schedule last week, I felt ill-prepared to guide our group through last week's discussion of the importance of reading the Bible. I was already feeling at a disadvantage in this area as I'm probably the least knowledgeable of our group in terms of biblical facts, so to be unprepared to guide the discussion on "God's autobiography" was quite disheartening.

The beauty of these community groups is  they are indeed collaborative. We're learning not only from the text and the Francis Chan/David Platt video clips, but also (and in my opinion, more importantly), from each other. When I was feeling inadequate discussing the material and unprepared to guide the discussion, we each offered independent views from our own experiences, offered support and guidance for confusing concepts, and shared our personal journeys with the Word! When we build community within our church family, these relationships and experiences can foster lasting impact beyond the doors of our church building.

Day 84: Heavenly Father, thank you for humbling me last week by learning more from my community group than they probably learned from me. Thank you for bestowing wisdom on Pastors Chan and Platt as they share the simple, yet effective concepts of making disciples. 

Lord, I have many faults and can only thank you for your grace. I've never thought of myself as proud. Last week after our gathering, I felt disappointed in myself for not carving out the necessary time to better prepare for our weekly discussion. I let pride and jealousy get the best of me that night. I want to glorify your name, Father, but I felt at the time I fell so short. In hindsight, were you teaching me a lesson about the church? After learning and leaning so much on my fellow group members' experiences and understanding of the intent of your Word, I realized the lesson of NEEDING the church. I am grateful for not being rescued from my uncomfortable state for it makes me appreciate even more the importance of surrounding myself with friends in Christ who can help build me as I help build them.

Father God, I pray this Multiply experience has sparked a fire within my friends to continue learning and leaning on one another. This world can pull you down with pride and jealousy and keep you from seeing the lessons in front of us. Thank you for revealing them to me in your timing, the perfect timing!

I love you.

Source: http://www.carmelumc.org