Posts Tagged ‘lifegroups’

Thoughts on Community #5 – The Beginning and the End

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Community is central to the entire Bible.  The community of the Trinity spoke the world into existence.  The Old Testament describes God’s relentless, frustrating pursuit of the community of Israel.  The New Testament graphically illustrates the price God was willing to pay to permanently betroth His Son to the community of the Church.  And we’re promised a new, redeemed, glorified, eternal community at the final judgment.  The Bible both begins and ends with community.

It’s no coincidence that we at UpperRoom feel so strongly about the community God intended His church to be: a nurturing, caring family that knows you and loves you just the same.

The church sometimes gathers for worship, sometimes for instruction and learning, and sometimes to celebrate.  But we need to also meet just for the sake of meeting, just for the sake of being together, to draw strength and hope in a world where both are often in short supply.  When we find ourselves in a selfless community, we find ourselves most like the community of God Himself.


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Thoughts on community

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Once upon a time, a mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.  “What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered.  He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.  Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:  “There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me.  I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house!”  The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.  Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said “There is a mousetrap in the house!”  The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse.  I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.  That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.  The farmer’s wife rushed to see what had been captured.  In the darkness, she did not see the venomous snake whose tail had been caught by the trap.  The snake bit the farmer’s wife, and the farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever.  Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.  His wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.  To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.  Unfortunately, the farmer’s wife did not get well; she died.  So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.  The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember — we are all connected.  When one part is hurt, we all hurt.  When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

This is why we’re so passionate about small groups:  it’s where community happens.

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Groups Interactive small group software

Small group ministry software solution for your church and ministry

Safe, secure, and easy way to manage your small group ministry.

  • Easily integrates with your church website in minutes.
  • Built in mapping and filtering make it easy for people to find the best group for them.
  • Group leaders receive automatic e-mail reminders to post group attendance and notes each week.
  • Administrators and leaders can quickly generate attendance, absentee, and other reports.
  • Groups can connect through chat, online studies, photos, group calendars and more.
  • Don't need another place to login? Groups Interactive is designed to push information out to where your group members are. They can even subscribe to their group through their favorite calendar software.

    • Groups Interactive small group software allows your small group leaders to post their attendance and group notes from their home or workplace over the Internet. They can even use it to communicate to their whole group. This weekly touch point helps even infrequent attenders feel connected and helps coaches, directors and pastors know the condition of their groups better than ever before. It works as well with Sunday schools as off-campus small group ministries. In fact, if you are using a blended model, it will help you manage both.

    While managing small groups can be time consuming, Groups Interactive creates a process that is simple for you and your group leaders. Once you’ve tried Groups Interactive small group software, we think you’ll agree.