Share My Life With Others - Spiritual Friendship

     "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17)

     Spiritual friendship goes beyond just being "friendly."  It isn't about being nice to people, or even about liking them.  It's about genuinely investing yourself in their lives; loving them unconditionally through whatever circumstances life throws their way.  It means being there to encourage them, to support them in their walk.  Jesus had his small group of disciples, but even in this group he had three who were his closest "spiritual friends": Peter, James, and John.  He shared the highest and lowest points of his life with them.  They were the three who accompanied him to the garden in which he was eventually arrested.  Maybe he brought them there to teach them what it means to live as a godly example through adversity, even being condemned to death on a cross.

     "In John 15:13 he says, 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' To die for a friend - that's just not ordinary, everyday friendliness" - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

Share My Life With Others - Small Group

    When you look at the life of Jesus, he was never a lone ranger.  He was always surrounded by someone: his family, friends, disciples, crowds, etc.  The greatest example of a small group is shown through Jesus and his twelve disciples.  Throughout his three years of ministry, Christ poured out his love and knowledge to the disciples.  They learned everything they knew about God and living a godly life through their time with Christ.  He was the one who modeled disciplines, and helped them experience spiritual transformation.  He worked through them to experience this formation.

     In this day and age, we look to each other to foster spiritual growth.  Just as Christ worked in the lives of his disciples, so do we work in the lives of our friends and colleagues to foster growth.  The discipline of small groups simply means joining a group of believers who are all willing and determined to grow together, not individually in their faith.  Joining a small group means vulnerability, and you must be willing to recognize your own  faults and bring them before the group so that together you can bring it to God.  And for a small group to really be effective in fostering growth in the members, all attending must be willing to listen.  No judging, no pointing finger, no gossiping.  Just listening, loving, and supporting.  That's what it takes to make a great small group.

" Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Share My Life With Others - Service

    Serving can be hard.  I mean, after a long day of work or school, I know the last thing I want to do is serve someone.  I mean, come on?  Can't they do something nice for me?  The thing is, though, that is exactly the kind of attitude that has created this materialistic society we live in today.  We want people to do good things for us, but we don't want to have to go out of our way for anyone else.  That is, until you understand our calling as Christians:

"Christians are the very essence of God to others.  We become God's vehicle of blessing on planet earth." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

    But the thing is, we can't serve, if we aren't ready.  We need to prepare our hearts for service, because if you are helping someone, but are totally selfish about it, or have a bad attitude, how is that showing God's love?  But even before you are willing to humble yourself and prepare for service, you have to be able to see the need.  A pastor, and good friend of mine once challenged me with this statement, "pray to God 'make what breaks Your heart break mine as well.'"  That's scary!  When you start to pray this prayer, God shows you the needs around you.  It isn't till you can see the world through God's eyes that you can truly serve.  Seeing through God's eyes means looking past economic status', race, gender, beliefs, or shortcomings of others, to look at the need.  Humbly serving and meeting that need shows the love of God to someone who may not know love.

"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.  You don't have to have a college degree to serve.  You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

Share My Life With Others - Mentoring

     Isn't it true, that when we learn what is best for us, our natural tendency is not always to do it.  We tend to stick to old habits, old ways of doing things.  Most of us need examples through relationships and hand-on teachings.  We need mentors.  Mentors help people grow in their walk with Christ.  They believe in the mentee, and in their ability to better themselves, even if the mentee doesn't see their own potential.  Mentors help the mentee equip themselves for success in whatever area of their life is necessary.

     I guess when you think about, mentoring happens everyday to almost anyone.  For example, at school, the students are mentored by teachers.  At home, the children are mentored by adults.  At work, the employee is mentored by the boss or manager.  The spiritual discipline of mentoring doesn't mean that you have to be qualified, or you have to meet certain standards.  All mentoring is about is passing on what you know to someone else.  There are no age restrictions, gender restrictions, race restrictions, etc.  It's all about helping one another in love.

     One of the best examples of mentoring in the bible was when Barnabas mentored Paul.  Paul was rejected by many of the disciples of Christ, because it had been Paul who had persecuted and killed Christians.  But Barnabas knew Paul was changed, and had become a man of God.  Barnabas was willing to risk everything to mentor Paul, and Paul went on to become one of the greatest inspirations for the gospel of all time.  He was a wildcard, no sensible Christian would risk getting close, but Barnabas saw his worth in Christ.

Share My Life With Others - Hospitality

"Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." - Romans 15:7    

      In a world that is becoming more and more dangerous, hospitality seems to be becoming more and more hard to find.  We sometimes feel vulnerable inside our own homes, and we are afraid when "strangers" come too close.  But we are called to be welcoming, to be the hands and feet of Christ that show his warm and loving heart.  Hospitality at it's core is, "offering the welcome of Jesus to any and all." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. Showing hospitality can be one of the best ways to show God's welcoming arms to a scary and hostile world.  But we need to be careful that we are offering our hospitality not to gain favor, or to show off what we have, but only to show God's love to those around us.  And in doing so, being completely humble and giving the glory to God.

     "They [the early church] broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people" - Acts 2:46-47

Share My Life With Others - Discipling

"Discipling is the process of equipping, training, and encouraging another in his or her apprenticeship to Jesus.  It means journeying with and helping another to grow in knowledge as well as in the virtues and character of Christ." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

     Discipling goes beyond just "saving a person".  It is an extended commitment to helping the person with their commitment to becoming more mature in Christ.  Discipling, though, can't really happen if the "saved" person doesn't want to grow.  You can't force a person to mature in their faith, they must be wanting and longing for that kind of growth.  Discipling usually occurs when a group of believers convene around the Word and encourage each other with love and kind words.  This usually happens when a older more-mature Christian disciples a younger one, but it can also happen in small groups as they spur each other on in growth.

     I know that I'm called to be a youth pastor.  And I know that along with that come the responsibility of discipling teens.  I'm totally up for that, because I love talking with others and challenging them to grow.  The only problem is that sometimes I forget that I need discipled as well.  I get discipled by my close friends when we get together for small group.  We always challenge each other to better ourselves and talk about what is holding us back.  I think sometimes Christians are really quick to disciple, but are very slow to be willing to get discipled.

Share My Life With Others - Covenant Group

     " A covenant group is composed of people who commit themselves to helping and encouraging one another, as each prayerfully seeks to live out God's will in their lives." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

     America is a nation that is constantly changing.  People are switching jobs, leaving their communities, and even switching their relationships.  Some people have no real friends, because all they do is get really good at just "being friendly" in the polite..."oh hey"...kind of way.  Covenant groups are all about creating deep relationships.  The people in your group will be the people who, at two in the morning, are willing to pick you up when your car breaks down.  They care deeply about you, and become TRUE friends.  The kind that never leaves you alone.

     These groups are usually long term, because it takes time to build up trust with one another.  In this time, the group learns how to listen to one another, and grow in Christ in each other's presence.  Covenant groups make a  covenant, whether written or not, to support one another in prayer, encourage each other, challenge each other, and help in any way needed.  For this group to succeed, commitment must be shared to the covenant, OR IT WON'T WORK.

"For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes." - Hebrews 3:13