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| Graphic from FPC, Gardner, Kansas |
In recent years I've engaged in a few small groups through Faith church Covina but they were all term limited and not what I was really seeking. they were all based on Christian books; they were good books but I long for more of a Bible fellowship. I want to find a small group of Christ followers to do life with.
I tried a new group this past Wednesday. It is through Humanity Church in Pomona. Logistically it is super good; it meets on Wednesdays at 7:30PM at the home of one of the members and it's only 2 miles from my job. By starting at 7:30 & that close to my job I can always make it no matter what goes on at work, that's a huge plus.
I adored the pattern of the meeting:
- Check in - Every single person present shared what God had been saying to them during the past week, and their high point and low points from the week.
- Praise time - I'm not yet sure what this will be. I think that it may vary greatly, depending on who leads it. This time, very soft, almost indistinguishable background praise music was put on. The facilitator said to think about an area in our lives where we aren't free and why. She said to not say something like shopping, food, drugs but to look at the root - addiction. To seek to identify some root causes blocking freedom in your life and to speak them out. Then she said to seek words from God to speak to these things in your life and to speak those out. People's eyes were pretty much closed during this time and the atmosphere was very honest and real. People initially spoke aloud things like fear of not being good enough, inferiority, fear of the unknown, etc. Then those same people later spoke to their own blockages, words that God had given them. I think everyone, except me, spoke during this time (there might have been one other person). Although they are all believers, they are still strangers to me and this was way too much for me within minutes of meeting a group of people. But I was OK with not talking and it wasn't too obvious because there were about 10 or 11 people there.
- Listening time - The idea here reminded me a bit of what I've read about early Quaker church gatherings. The group sat in silence waiting on God. Allowing time for Him to speak to our hearts. Periodically people would speak aloud things that they felt God had given them to speak to the group or to individuals in the room. The same person who'd facilitated the praise time opened up this time by briefly explaining. She explained that God might give you a mental picture, Bible verse, single word, or message for the group or individual and to go ahead and speak it out. The pervasive feeling was that the Believers in the room were trying to hear from God and move in prophetic and word of wisdom gifts; and that the only way to be able to do this was to step out in faith and try it - that it was OK if you didn't do it "right" that we were all here together trying to move in God's Spirit. I did note that some people seemed to talk a lot, I kind of wondered how they'd have time to hear from God. Yet, they seemed excited and like this was something cool they wanted to do. Nothing that I heard at any time was contrary to the Word.
- Then they took about a 5 minute break.
- When we came back together, we took turns, reading 5 verses each until a chapter in Matthew was read. We then just discussed the chapter. I greatly enjoyed this part. People were taking turns saying things that verses in this chapter said to them. Several people brought up other scripture passages as they made their points. People shared incidents in their lives that related to things they were saying about the passage. It was in this part of the meeting that I shared some.
- One person prayed aloud a prayer to close out our time together.
- They took volunteers to lead the 1st part, Bible time, and bring a snack for this next week.
I've always wanted to be involved in a group where everyone took turns leading. That feels so real to me. I adored the excited about God, genuine, and open feel of the group. I definitely want to go back. My only concern is that it's a very young group; I doubt that anyone there is older than 30. I'm their parents age. That's not a problem for me; young people have the holy spirit and Paul told Timothy to not let people look down on his age - I can certainly learn from them. It just may feel weird for them. I don't want it to seem like I'm a creeper - I mean is it weird for me to want to be there?
I decided to answer this question by simply asking. I emailed the group contact person and asked. I explained that I adore the group and would like to continue but wanted to make sure that my age wouldn't be a problem for the group. It seems like it may be an uncomfortable thing to ask, yet, relationships are uncomfortable sometimes and I believe that relationships can't develop without the willingness to be honest. So we'll see what transpires.
I decided to answer this question by simply asking. I emailed the group contact person and asked. I explained that I adore the group and would like to continue but wanted to make sure that my age wouldn't be a problem for the group. It seems like it may be an uncomfortable thing to ask, yet, relationships are uncomfortable sometimes and I believe that relationships can't develop without the willingness to be honest. So we'll see what transpires.
