The Flip-Side of Community

by Tim Keller, Lead Pastor

I’m old enough to remember when gas was less than a dollar, when The Cleveland Browns were a good football team, and when our elected officials debated issues passionately, yet remained friends. In other words, I’m ancient.

I also remember a time in church life when the concept of small groups did not exist. Churches gathered on Sundays to worship King Jesus corporately, then did it again on Sunday evenings and once more to pray together on Wednesday nights. The idea of small groups of Christians coming together consistently to pray for one another and share their lives was as foreign to Christians then as a hymn-sing would be to a Millennial today.

The small group movement has become a trend in the evangelical world and there are a lot of positives. People are more aware of needs, in a better atmosphere to share spiritual needs, and more attentive to pray for the people in their particular group. What could possibly be wrong with all this love and sharing and caring?

Just this; in some situations the focus of people building a caring community around them has masked the fact that little or no attention is being paid to the people outside the zone of the small group. When the highest priority is to ensure that I am being cared for, listened to, and understood, I have lost sight of the fact that none of these objectives represent the mission that Jesus gave us in Matthew 28.

Imagine that your small group is scheduled to meet on a Friday night. Just as you are looking for your car keys to leave your house you get a text from a friend who works with you. She is really hurting after a hard conversation with her mother who tends to be ultra-controlling and pushy. She needs to talk to you and wonders if you could grab a coffee together in 30 minutes.

You’ve had a tough week of your own with some troubles at work and children who listen to you in the same way that Helen Keller listened to anyone. You’re frustrated and were really looking forward to being surrounded by your group who you know will listen attentively and then pray for you passionately. 

Only a clear understanding of Christ’s mission will enable you to make a decision about your schedule for the evening.

There are definitely times when our small groups can provide a loving and safe environment for us to be ministered to. However, being ministered to is not the mission Jesus left us with before returning to the Father. We must provide quality spiritual care to one another for the purpose of empowering one another to fulfill the mission Jesus. That’s the big goal.

Jeff Vanderstelt writes, “If you go for community without mission you just get co-dependency.” If we fall in love with the loving atmosphere of the hot tub, we may never exit to face the cold and blustery world on the other side of the glass window.

The answer is not to destroy the small group environment and face our mission alone. The answer is to see the value and purpose of the small group environment and prayerfully walk away each time with an understanding that it is the winter we have been called to transform.