by Steve Cordle
There are some things we just can’t do alone: get married, play football, and… follow Jesus.
There are many today who would say “My spirituality is private, I have my own beliefs, and I don’t need to be part of a church to believe in God, and I can pray anywhere I am.â€
And that is partially true: we can indeed (and should) pray in all sorts of places, and church membership is not required in order to believe in God.
However, God’s intent for us is much more than to believe he exists or to pray from time to time. God’s intent for us is to become spiritually mature, and in order to do that we need to be connected to other people.
Ephesians 4:13 describes God’s goal for us: “…we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.â€
The passage mentions many other people who are involved in our maturing process. In verses 4 and 12 Jesus followers are called “the body of Christâ€. That tells us we are not isolated spiritual free-agents, but connected parts of a whole.
If you saw a disembodied hand sitting on ground you’d find it alarming! An unconnected body part is a sign of serious trouble. The scriptures tell us we are the Body of Christ: so a follower of Jesus unconnected to others in the body is also alarming!
If our only connection with other believers is in a corporate worship service, we will not have as much opportunity as we need in order to mature spiritually. The connection we require is both â€shoulder to shoulder†and “face to faceâ€. That is, next to each other as we are focused on worship of God, and open to each other as we share our lives together. Cell ministry is an expression of the connection God designed us to experience as the body of Christ.
Comments?
Steve
RE: “Some Assembly Required” by Steve Cordle
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Steve,
What a timely post this was! Just prior to reading this, I was on the phone with someone in our church who thinks it is wrong for me to ask those folks who only show up on Sunday (but don’t want to climb on-board the cell-group church vision) to either climb on-board or to continue in their search for a church that better fits their definition of ‘church’.
‘They’ say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Here’s a link to a picture I compiled to help people understand the importance of active participation in our cell groups. We show this slide every Sunday in our powerpoint presentations…
http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/CelebratedMinistries/CellGroup.jpg
Sharing the Journey,
Rick Diefenderfer
That’s a striking picture, Rick!