Imagine All This
Imagine regularly ….
- Not being alone
- Enjoying your favorite activities and hobbies with people who also value Christ
- Being with people who genuinely care for you
- Interacting with people who prioritize meaningful and heart-felt conversation over superficiality and pretense
- Going to a safe place where you are comfortable being and exploring your authentic self and connecting with others doing the same
- Talking about God
- Releasing the burdens of your soul to people who will not judge you but instead are committed, sincere and loving accountability partners for your spiritual and moral journeys
- Exploring the Bible with people of diverse life experiences, wisdom and knowledge
- Exercising your prayer life
- Serving side by side with friends to make a difference for one another, your community and the world
Can people really have all this?
Admittedly, it’s a God-sized order. Yet in Matthew 18:20 Jesus tells us “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.” When God is there then we can imagine these realities.
John Wesley founded Methodism and organized class meetings specifically to provide intentional space and support for such pursuits. He knew that as people engaged in these activities they would grow closer to God and experience more abundant life. Today’s United Methodist small groups carry on this tradition by continuing to offer opportunity for people of all persuasions to explore important, life changing concepts and activities in community through the lenses of the Bible, Wesleyan tradition, reason and experience.
Is it possible that you are being called to find such a group for yourself?
Could God be calling you to lead such a small group into existence or become its next shepherd?
What if God is calling you to organize a space for such groups to form and be nurtured, coaching them to stay accountable to the principals imagined?
Imagine….