it happened round the table...

Summer is almost over. We have 7th grade open house for our daughter this week, school starts the day after Labor Day & she has already started cross country practice. With the beginning of school comes  the fall programming for Christian Education at church. The search for Sunday School teachers is in full swing, curriculum is being researched & purchased & adult Bible studies are taking shape. While I love all the amazing teaching that goes on at our church, I can't help but feel like it is still missing a little something.
 
This week as I've been listening to Hubs share his thoughts about 'Christian Education', all I could think about is the sermon series we taught together last year on community & I've been thinking about our precious friends, Dave & April Yeager.
 
I'm going to post here, in part, some of the message we shared last year... prepare yourself... because of Hubs influence, it's a little different than most of the things I blog but this is so important people. It is the passion of my heart. For real.  
 
Here's what I mean...  
 

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” -Proverbs 27:17

 

“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

-Hebrews 10:24-25

"I want to share with you a little bit about the difference between Bible studies & small groups… Many of us have been a part of a Bible study at some point in our Christian lives. Typically, these groups read the Bible for a set period of time on a specific day of the week or study topical Christian books. ACC has had a great track record for excellent Sunday school teaching & home Bible studies. When we first moved here, we found that it was very common for those we talked with, to have come into the church thru a Bible study at Al & Mary Nowachecks house. I’d like for you to take your warm fuzzy memories of your experiences with home Bible study & set them aside for a moment.  Don’t freak out. While Bible studies are wonderful, they don’t constitute a Christian community in its entirety.

So what’s the difference? The short answer is that a small group community is not a Bible study, but a small group community studies the Bible. Does this make sense?

Let me explain… A Bible study is often defined by gathering for the event of learning. The individuals who compose a small group community are individually engaging God’s Word on a daily basis.

The distinction is primarily in expectations: a small group community expects that an individual is participating in the community to contribute something (1 Corinthians 14:26), whereas someone comes to a Bible study to consume something.

Certainly people need to study the Bible, but to study the Bible without engaging in authentic community on mission is a fool’s errand. The purpose of studying the Bible is indeed to learn about God and conform us to the image of Christ, but it’s also to equip us for the work of ministry in the church (community) and outside the church (mission).

If we desire compelling communities that foster obedience to the Bible, our small group community should be natural, neutral, and regular, in the pattern and rhythm of everyday life, not a one-hour, drive-through Bible study.

Practically speaking, most Bible studies need to think critically about how the information that they are studying affects their daily life AND specifically how they can share the good news of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection with their friends and neighbors.

You know, some of the most incredible teaching & learning I have ever experienced was around the table in our friends Dave & April Yeager’s kitchen. Every Friday night our families got together to make pizza & talk about the Bible. As time went on we got together more frequently. Always for a meal. Sometimes we studied a passage in the Bible… sometimes we just played cards & talked about how God was working in our lives. As our kids played night games & built blanket forts & watched movies & played video games, we shared what we were reading, what God was teaching us & how to work out this whole salvation thing. We laughed together. We cried together. We sharpened each other.  

Again, we don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater here… we just want to encourage you to think a little outside of the box… outside of what you think organized ‘religion’ or teaching should look like." -Building Community, Summer 2013

 

Here's what I want to reiterate about our Friday night times together with our Yeager friends. Their friendship & the seven years we had living in community with them changed how we view 'church' for the good. Church is not a building. It's not programming or the worship band or the pastors. It is the people... living in true community together.

 

This is not easy, I'm not gonna pretend that it is. You have to be deliberate. You have to be willing to open up your lives to see each other for who you are deep down inside. To make time to build trust & share meals & learn & play together. We need to be willing to go against what our culture tells us our friendships should look like. We need to stand firm when people think we are strange or weird or 'cultish'. We need to love when our brothers are obnoxious... to be a support to our sisters in the tough times... to encourage our people to grow & change... & to cheer each other on when we succeed.  Sound familiar?

 

 Acts 2:44-47 tells us of the first century church, "All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

 

It is my deepest conviction that this... this is how we will change the world people.

 

 

 

"The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian."                
                  -Brennan Manning (The Furious Longing of God)