Eight Reasons to Join a CONNECT Group (part three)

We're continuing to look at Eight Reasons to Join a CONNECT Group. Here are the Reasons #5 & #6:

5. You will have a natural way to share Christ with friends, neighbors, relatives, and work associates.
It may be that some of your friends who don’t know the Lord wouldn’t be caught dead in a church. They have preconceived ideas and just the thought of church makes them defensive. But those same people may be open to an invitation to a casual Bible discussion in a home. In a CONNECT group, your unbelieving friend can ask questions and express honest doubts without feeling put on the spot. When your friend sees the love and warmth and honesty within your group, it will make him more receptive to the Good News.

One group had a block party. I realize that doesn't sound like evangelism, but it's considered a "Level 1" event for evangelism. What happens at a Level 1 event? Well, you build relationships! This group decided that the gospel compels them to reach out to others. They also realized that the sense of community that had been lacking from their own lives was certainly shared by their neighbors. Within the group, God had placed "party planners," individuals who know how to host a great party. The group divided up the preparation and invitation responsibilities, prayed for the event and all of the neighbors who had been invited, and then partied! Was part of the plan to share the 4 Spiritual Laws with each person at the party? NO! Were they ready to look for opportunities to "turn" a conversation in a spiritual direction? YES! Were they going to force conversation that way? Certainly not. The purpose was to begin building relational bridges over which the gospel can be shared at another time. And they pulled this off because it was done as a group, dividing cost and responsibilities and encouraging one another to be faithful to the leading of the Lord. By the way, they experienced a tremendous turnout and the afternoon party didn't break up until nearly 10pm. When they were asked for the reason for the party, they simply explained that they were involved together in a small group and figured that they were lacking meaningful connection so they assumed that everyone else shared that condition. They were right. And now they can work toward meeting these families wherever they are and helping move them into a right relationship with God and others.

6. You will develop leadership skills you never knew you had!
The Bible teaches that every believer is given at least one spiritual gift to benefit others in the family of God. Unfortunately, most Christians remain Sunday morning spectators all their lives because large group meetings are primarily “sit and listen” situations. As you share and participate in a healthy CONNECT group environment, you’ll be exposed to opportunities to discover and to understand the gifts God has given to you. You’ll grow closer to one another and to God as you trade “doing church” for “being the church.” You’ll begin to live a life of significance.

Six months ago, if you had asked "Jim" if he was a leader, he would have said "No way!" In fact, that's exactly what he told me. But with training, encouragement, and coaching, he is a very successful CONNECT group leader today. His group has a great time together, experiencing meaningful study and discussion time, fantastic fellowship time (you can't go wrong when the group meets at Rita's!), and involvement in outreach in the community. And all of this in less than six months and from a guy who thought God couldn't use him to shepherd a small flock. Does that excite or frighten you?

Tomorrow, we wrap up the Eight Reasons to Join a CONNECT Group