Life Group Challenge
Our church has a number of life groups that each meet during the week between church services.
This Tuesday night was our life group meeting (held on Skype these days) and earlier that day I had been wondering what we could discuss that would be helpful for our group as it was my turn to lead the session.
Whilst walking dog #2 before the meeting I was praying and asking God exactly what the devil is trying to achieve with COVID-19.
The Lord told me that the devil is attempting to stop spiritual growth in the church.
This got me thinking about how we might discuss spiritual growth at our life group that evening and I decided to present the discussion as a direct challenge to our life group members.
Here is the gist of how the meeting went ...
Opening Statement And Prophesy
God wants each of us to live life in all its fullness with passion and purpose for His glory.
I prophesy that everyone in this life group:
- will live life to the full!
- will achieve great things for God!
- will be wildly successful!
Parts Of The Body
The body has different parts, each of which are essential to the whole. Each has a unique part to play therefore the parts are not in competition but intended to work together in harmony.
The church, the body of Christ, is likened to the human body as also having many members who each have a unique role to play and whom God expects to work together in harmony for His glory.
Spiritual Growth
Christians are expected to grow continually so as to become spiritually mature. To enable this God has given various gifts to His church (see Ephesians 4:11-16).
Challenge: We all need to keep growing spiritually.
Levels Of Spiritual Maturity
The bible describes different levels of spiritual maturity and metaphorically compares them to the different stages of human growth and development.
The different levels include:
- Baby (least mature)
- Child
- Young adult
- Adult
- Elder (or father)
- Jesus (fully mature - our role model)
Challenge: How can we all help each other to level-up and keep growing?
Newly born-again believers are likened to newborn babes, requiring milk in order to grow and not yet able to tolerate meat or walk.
Mature Christians are described as being of full age, able to tolerate strong meat and skilled in the word of righteousness and able to teach.
Not all believers grow to become spiritually mature as they should and whilst it is easy to determine human maturity, determining a person's spiritual maturity is not so straightforward.
Group discussion: Are you growing spiritually? [Some yes, some no.]
The Spiritual Growth Challenge
Knowing that we all need to be growing spiritually, what can we each do to help make that happen within our life group and beyond?
Some initial suggestions included:
- Read and study the bible together more often.
- Pray together more often.
- Keep in closer contact with one another.
- Hold separate "mens" and "ladies" meetings.
Tim Simpson
8th October, 2020
#ChristianDogWalker