Why You Should Join A Christian Small Group?
1. To Encourage One Another
God has made us to be dependent on each other in the body of Christ for encouragement.
We need encouragement from one another to do the work of God. We who are mature are obliged to encourage the weaker believers.
However, even mature believers need encouragement.This is because everyone faces temptations, trials and discouragement.
It is easy to become lukewarm and cold, and be led away by the world from the things of God.
To encourage one another, you need to meet with others. You need to join a group whereby you may regularly and consistently encourage one another,spur one another toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another --- and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
We can encourage one another to know and possess all our riches in Christ, trust God at times of need.
Seek God first at all situations. Walk in love and do good deeds, e.g. help those who are oppressed, Serve God faithfully, joyfully, fruitfully and zealously according to your specific calling.
Be a faithful witness for Jesus wherever we live and work.
Be involved in missions by INTERCEDING, READY TO GO, GIVING GENEROUSLY to bring in the Lord's harvest.
2. To express your love for other believers
Jesus spent a lot of time with his disciples, because he loved them. They were with him both in public and in private. As well as in field work together, Jesus trained and prepared them in a small group context. Jesus is, or should be our model.
The kind of relationships he advocated for his followers cannot be built simply on the basis of casual contact. The early church certainly followed this example, and so multiplied mature and committed disciples, who became effective both in evangelisation as well as the other tasks they got from the Lord.
Jesus gave us a new commandment whereby He commands us to love one another as He has loved us. A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)
If we love one another, we will want to help our brothers and sisters who are in need.
We show our love by spending time with them, listening to their needs, praying with them, and helping them in every other way.
To do all this you need to commit yourself to a group of believers so that we may show our mutual care and concern among one another.
When we express our love for others, we are living in obedience to the commandments of our Lord. we will become a mature christian.
If you are a mature believer, you should all the more show your love for the new believers who are young in the Lord. We, who are more mature and older in the Lord should spend time to help and encourage the young ones.
In this manner, we are truly walking in love towards one another.
3. To be a witness to the world
The world has no community that has ever lived in peace and love, except the community of the body of Christ.
Jesus said that "if we love one aother, all men will know that you are my disciples" (John 13:35). Thus whenever we show love and concern for one another as a group of believers, we bear witness to the world that we are disciples of Jesus.
By our love for one another, we draw the people from the world to the reality that there is a living God in our midst.
A Cell Group showing mutual love among its members is a powerful witness to the world around us.
However, if a Christian brother or sister does not care for another Christian brother or a Christian sister is indifferent to the needs of a fellow believer, this kind of selfishness will becomes a negative testimony to the world. Non-believers will see that we are no different from the world because we are selfish, uncaring, unconcerned, minding our own things only. This will break the heart of our Lord.
God wants us to be "our brother's keeper" (Genesis 4:8-9). This has always been His desire from the very beginning when He created man.
4. To use our spiritual gifts and establish our personal ministry
God has given each of us many gifts to fulfill our unique calling. As we obey God.and use our gifts to bless others, we will build our ministry. Each of us has a ministry, a unique and special ministry design by our God.
When we are faithfully using our gifts to build up others, Jesus will commend each of us and say. "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:14-29).
Cell Group provides a place for us to use our giftings to bless others in the ministry of helps (transport, welcoming strangers, hospitality, administration, music, worship leading. preparing food etc.). ministry of counselling, intercession, generosity, mercy, healing, teaching. caring. prophesying. evangelism, prayers interceding etc.
However, if we do not serve within the context of a Cell Group, we will find that a lot of our giftings will remain unused and our ministry will never grow. We will then receive our Lord's condemnation instead of approval (Matthew 25:14-29)
5. To build others up with our unique giftings
God made all of us members of one Body through His Spirit when we believe in Christ. We are interdependent on one another. You have been given gifts that others need. Likewise, God has made you dependent on the giftings of others. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are INDISPENSIBLE. (1 Corinthians 12:14-15,21-22)
No man is an island. No one can grow to complete maturity by himself.
The whole Body of Christ will also not grow to complete maturity if parts of its body are missing. Thus every one of us has a vital and essential role in building up the body of Christ to maturity. If you are not around to use the unique and special gifting that God has given to you to build up others, the whole Body will be stunted.
Your are therefore important to the Cell Group. Others need you and your unique giftings. You will find that you need others too, sooner or later.