actiongroups

The first actiongroups planning meeting was held this past Thursday.  The meeting was a great time of fellowship and learning.  During this meeting we discussed the vision for actiongroups.  Below is a link to “The Basics” about actiongroups.  I hope everyone will review the document and get excited about actiongroups!

The Basics


actiongroups – The Ultimate Win

As we prepare for our launch this fall I would like to share with you the FTW of actiongroups.  If you recall from our recent series, FTW stands for For The Win.  I believe there is a FTW or what I call an Ultimate Win that comes with actiongroups.  This win is that “No One Walks Alone”.  That no one would walk through life without a community of believers to offer support and understanding.

One model for this win is a miracle performed by Jesus.  During His ministry Jesus had an encounter with and healed ten men with leprosy (Luke 17:11-19).

Having leprosy during Jesus day was a permanent sentence of exclusion.  Leprosy is a contagious disease and individuals with leprosy were forced to live apart from the rest of the society.  If someone came near a leper the leper had to yell, “Unclean, unclean”, to keep people from coming to close.  It would have been socially expectable to Jesus to ignore the lepers and keep moving.

The thing is, Jesus did not ignore the lepers and move on.  Jesus healed the lepers.  Jesus included the lepers in His community.  Jesus did not want anyone to walk alone.

I pray that actiongroups will build a community where No One Walks Alone.

actiongroups

Hello All, it is James the actiongroups guy. I wanted to use the first actiongroups post to tell everyone a little bit about why I am so passionate about small groups.

For starters, if it wasn’t for a small group I likely wouldn’t know Christ as my Savior today. I did not come to faith because of a powerful sermon or song. I came to faith because people in a small group lived out their faith in Christ. They built relationships with me, served me, prayed with and for me. What happens in a small group setting can impact someone’s eternity. I am proof of that.

Another reason I am passionate about small groups is because Jesus was passionate about small groups. Christ modeled small groups by forming the first small group, the disciples. Christ did not just “do church” with the disciples and others one day a week. Jesus did LIFE with the disciples. They prayed together, ate together, served together every day. We should not use excuses about time and commitments to avoid small groups, because despite knowing His time was short, Christ was passionate about His small group. He then sent the disciples out as small groups to teach and heal. I believe strongly that if Jesus thought small groups were important so should we.

I look forward to many more actiongroups posts and keeping everyone up to date on the exciting things that are to come. Thanks!