This is part of a series called Living Life Groups, Loving God. Read the introduction here.
A life group is capable of reproduction, growth, and movement
“We count people because people count.” This is one of the oft-mentioned maxims shared with core team members to emphasise how important it is to quantify how many people we bring in to the church, and to qualify their spiritual growth. God loves His people. And so we must be as excited as He is when they join His church.
They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity — all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
Acts 2:46-47 NLT
A life group that doesn’t grow cannot consider itself “alive”.
Of course the expectation is for gradual growth. A reasonable increase over time. There can be surges; these are not outside the realm of possibility. God is a miraculous, powerful Being who loves to surprise us after all. But more often than not, the changes would be incremental.
Also, growth is not just measured in number of people who are attending. It should also be a matter of how much the people are moving through their personal walk with God, how committed they are becoming to God and to the Church. Attendance is eminently countable, but commitment is less so. However, they should both be considered in terms of how much the life group is thriving and flourishing.
It is the same for every group and for every church. There is not one tried and true formula, no standard set of instructions that can be followed that will ensure this growth. This is another one of God’s avenues for us to exercise our own free will, so that we may reap greater joy in the harvest. We are to be intentional in our desire for the life group, and strategic in our planning as we work towards the common goal of growing in strength in the name of Jesus.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
All life groups have to get moving. It is a non-negotiable. It is imperative. It is a marker of life.
Reflection Questions
- Have an open discussion with your leader about the trajectory of your life group attendance. You can use tables or graphs to visualise the groups’ growth over the past weeks or months.
- What did the results of your discussions tell you about how much you have moved in numbers through time?
- Map out the people in your group, and determine, as best as you can, how committed they are just in terms of their serving in the life group, or in church ministry. Make sure to do this lovingly and without prejudice.
- Think of ways on how you can all grow together in your walk with God in your life group and as individuals.
