In the small group I lead, we just finished up a study of the book of Philippians. It was a great study that took us all summer and now, we're ready to start the next topic. As I prayed about what to do next, I really felt like we needed to focus on being able to tell our stories to non-believers.
By stories, I mean - how and why we came to follow Jesus. What happened in our lives that we chose to give up everything to follow Him? What is it about Jesus that was so alluring? Why do we continue to follow and pursue Him? I believe there's so much more to becoming and being a follower of Jesus than simply because it's a free ticket to heaven. It's not just about being redeemed from our sins...though, obviously, that's a huge piece. I just happen to think that there's more to it than just that. What about the life we live while we're still here on earth? How does following Jesus change how we live our lives? And, quite frankly, why should it change how we live our lives? Why do we want it to and why do we let it?
We all have people in our lives who don't know Jesus. And, the question that's been rolling around in my heart, head and prayers for months now is: in a culture that says that all truth is relative and everyone's free to believe what he/she wants to, how do we share all that we've been given by Jesus with others in a way that makes them want to follow Him too? People can smile and nod, saying something to the effect of "that's great for you" but how do we share Him in a way that makes them say, "wow...I want to know Jesus too"?
Okay, preaching aside, I actually do have a story to tell. :)
For the past few weeks, I've been praying and prepping for this new small group series. And, have been excited to "launch" it at this week's small group.
During this same time, my friend and co-worker has been trying to gather a group of friends to play volleyball on the same night as my small group meets. (Over the past few months, he's gotten to know quite a few of my friends (and specifically the folks in my small group) because of a MeetUp group that he's a apart of. (That is a whole other story in and of itself...but suffice it to say, this specific MeetUp group is an outdoors group that was formed by some folks in my church simply to do outdoorsey stuff with others - whether they're a part of our church or not. It's not meant to be a way to share Jesus per se...but really just a way for people to hang out with other people doing fun thngs...and if the opportunity arises, to share Jesus with them. I had mostly nothing to do with his meeting and befriending these folks and it's just further proof that God's up to something in his life because he spends the majority of his time with us all now.))
ANYWAY, some folks in my small group (also in the MeetUp group) and I were included in the invitation to play volleyball. I gave him some push-back...explaining that it was our small group night and, while he was welcome to join us, we couldn't be giving up our small group night to go play volleyball.
His response (though he doesn't even understand what our small group does...although I've tried to explain it to him) was that we should all come to play volleyball and then go to a coffee shop to have our small group talk. Again, I shot him down, appeasing him in the end by saying a flimsy, "I'll think about it."
And, that's when I started getting emails from the folks in my small group: "oooh, can we go play volleyball?" "maybe one last fun summer event before it gets cold?" etc etc etc.
If I'm honest, the entire situation had me frustrated. Why was he trying to hyjack my small group (people and night) when I had something so important to talk with them all about? I had everything set up in the way I wanted to do it and here he was hyjacking my plans...and getting others interested in it too. Weren't they (the others from my small group) supposed to think of small group as a priority too?!
So, I called my leader - the person who oversees me and my leadership of the small group. I explained the entire situation to her and asked her if she thought we should a) cancel group to play volleyball or b) say no to volleyball and have our small group. Her answer: why don't you go play volleyball first and then head off to a coffee shop to have your small group talk?
Sound familiar? Yes...that's exactly what my friend said. THE friend who doesn't know Jesus, doesn't understand what small groups are for and just wanted to have some fun playing volleyball.
My leader's response also included something to the effect of, "Natalie, can't you see that this is a win-win? You're starting this series and these are the very people your group is getting to know and love, right? What better object lesson than to go hang out with them, build deeper relationship and then introduce this new topic?"
Hm. She's right. He was right. And, so, that's exactly what we did last night. We played volleyball for a few hours and then those of us in the small group went to a coffee shop to chat.
Sometimes I think God's just up in heaven, watching me and giggling...watching me struggle and be so stuck in my ways when He's actually opening doors and making things a whole heck of a lot easier than "my way" ever would be.
Ha!
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