Small Groups. Five HabitsSample

HABIT ONE: Make It Your Priority

In the Bible, the pattern of Christianity is that believers would meet together for a large group worship time and they would also meet together in small groups [Acts 2:46; 20:20]. As we begin meeting together in a small intimate group, we expect to see the living Lord Jesus at work among us. Jesus Himself gave us this promise: “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them” [John 18:20].  As we worship Him and look into His Word, as we share our blessings and problems, as we encourage each other and pray for each other, we believe that God will work in our lives in amazing ways. 

This starts with you. If you're not doing life with a few other believers in a small group, it will be rather difficult for you to get others to do life together. So, make small group a high priority in your own life, and challenge people who are members of groups to do the same.

Small groups need to meet with consistency and frequency. It needs to become a priority for the group's members. Our tendency is to get busy and stressed and then to flake out and come up with excuses for not meeting together. And it's so easy for that to become habitual and before long, we don't really have a group anymore. Meeting must be a priority.

Let me give you three practical and life changing reasons why you should prioritize meeting with your small groups: 

Flexibility~ Two or three people can meet almost anywhere, anytime; during lunch break, at a coffee shop, in a park, in a home. The larger the group, the more difficult it is to get everyone together at the same time in one place. 

Accountability~ We all need to be accountable to someone who cares about us.  In a group of two or three, it is more likely that we will have the courage to share honestly and receive encouragement to overcome our sins.  All of us need encouragement to keep growing in Christ. Because of the level of sharing that takes place, men should meet with men and women should meet with women.

Reproducibility~This simple pattern of encouraging growth in Christ can easily be reproduced by anyone in any place.  Once you start a small group challenge the people in your group to start another small group with one or two others. 

As long as this groups continues to meet, we will always be reaching out to others who need to come into a growing relationship with Christ.  Begin now thinking of others you can invite to join your small group. Here is the plan:  After six months or so, we expect that this group will grow in number to the point that we will need to multiply and become two small groups.  We would like to see hundreds of small groups all over Metro Manila.  Remember, God so loved every person in Manila (and the world) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. [John 3:16]. Let’s begin praying that many more people will come to understand and receive God’s love and forgiveness through the church and small groups.