5. Gathering communities
Here's an exercise for your next group meeting. Take out a large piece of butcher paper and brainstorm every activity that a typical church is involved in.
Then cross off the list every activity that is non essential. By non essential I mean, you could remove it and the group of people would still be church.
Finally, open up Acts 2:36-47 and list the essential actives of church. What is it that separates out a group of people as being church?
Discipleship doesn't begin with going to church. Discipleship begins with following Jesus. But no disciple of Jesus can follow alone. Church is not just a practical aid to discipleship, community reflects the character and nature of God. You cannot be a disciples of Jesus and follow him alone.
Making disciples always leads to forming churches or it's not discipleship.
What's your plan for helping groups of new disciples discover what it means be God's people together?
