The “Community” in Community Group
According to a recent study by the Barna Group,* two of the top five reasons why people join a church are related to the community or fellowship they experience there:
- The theological beliefs and doctrine of church
- The people seem to care about each other
- The quality of the sermons that are preached
- How friendly the people are to visitors
In today’s fragmented and isolated society, people are visiting churches looking for community. Since the purpose of the CG ministry of ROC is to express the Kingdom of God through renewed relationships, we want all who come to River Oaks to experience this, especially knowing that many visit specifically looking for community.
Theological Reflections
God created us, in fact, to live in community with one another. As we read in Genesis 1-2, the foundation of human relationships flows out of a need for relationships with one another:
God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 2:18
The church is specifically given by God as one of the means by which people enter into deep relationships with one another. The Christian life is not meant to be lived on an island or behind a computer, but in fellowship with one another. Romans 12 is one of many pictures of this in the NT:
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
Romans 12:4-6
Skill Development as a Leader
Our community groups are not designed merely to be information sessions. To achieve the goal of real, life-on-life community, we want them to be more than just content. The goal of the CG leader is to draw everyone into a discussion of biblical truth that leads to transformed lives. This requires not only knowing the information, but getting others involved in applying it their lives.
Here are a few tips on how to prepare for a discussion not just a lesson:
- Do the lesson early in the group meeting so that there is time for interaction. Don’t save it until the end, where it is an afterthought.
- Pray for your CG during the week. One way you grow in healthy Christian relationships is praying with and for one another.
- Spend time trying to anticipate other people’s answers and prepare yourself for them. Seek to affirm their contribution and dive deeper.
- Ask good questions. The job of the CG leader is not simply to teach content. The goal is to get people to engage face-to-face with each other. Though we provide “Sermon Application Questions” as a starting point, you know your group best, so feel free to ask questions your own way.
- Pray over the discussion. This seems obvious, but preparing your own heart as a leader is key to being effective in facilitating discussions that get more than skin deep.
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* See discussion here
