- Eat Together - "They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts..."
- Learn Together - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching..."
- Pray Together - "They devoted themselves...to prayer."
- Help Together - "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."
As a result, the early church experienced true, authentic, life-transforming community. Think about that--because they took time to eat, learn, pray, and help together, they enjoyed the power of community. Relationships grew, needs were met, people were cared for, faith grew, and the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved. Sometimes we think of a Connection Group as nothing more than a 2-hour meeting once every couple of weeks to meet some friends and go through a curriculum. But true community is much more than that. True community emerges when a small group of people embrace the four practices described in Acts 2. I'll talk more about each practice in the next few days. In the mean time, take a moment to comment --which practice is your greatest strength? Which is your greatest weakness? How have these 4 practices contributed to a true sense of community in your group?
In our experience over the last few terms, we have had the unique opportunity to have group attendees from various denominational backgrounds which made our “learn together” time fairly solid. Also, the “eat together” / fellowship time has been a true strength, and it has really been conducive for fostering friendships. With respect to the “pray” and “share” aspects, we feel that, in general, these areas have been lacking. Any suggestions from other groups on How to strengthen these 2 aspects would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteKevin and Alejandra Markel