Brad House » Scripture Mission Church Holy Spirit Community

One of the keys to life-giving community is the ability to cultivate community in a natural sense.

We do this by building the rhythms of our Community Group around the natural rhythms of life and, in some ways, relax the formality of what it means to be a community. This means there are times when we gather to simply enjoy one another’s company, times when we gather to serve our neighbors, or times we focus on study of the Bible.  

Study Scripture, Not a Schedule

Rigidity can suck the life out of a group fairly quickly. Instead, the goal is to develop community that is restorative and life-giving. The challenge is to not throw the structure out with the bathwater.

The natural rhythms of our lives as Christians should be saturated with the Bible, prayer, and worship.  Acts 2:42–47 gives us an example of the natural rhythms of a community transformed by Jesus: 

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The natural rhythms included fellowship, the study of Scripture, meals, worship, prayer, and mission. When we are a community that is smitten with the love of Jesus, these become second nature in our life together. As leaders, we want to cultivate the love of Scripture in our community in ways that draw out our dependence on the Bible and prayer. The key to such cultivation is to nurture that dependence in your own heart.

When the love of Jesus, Scripture, and prayer overflow from your heart, you will lead your group to these same great gifts.

This will get you much further than developing a concise Bible study because it establishes the Bible as a source of life rather than content to be mastered.

Let the Spirit Lead You

This means that when you have a group that is following a sermon series, you lead out of what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life through the sermon and text, using provided material as a guide. Your passion, however, will come from your own experience wrestling with the text. When we are naturally steeped in Scripture, we won’t need to wait for a formal “Bible study” time to discuss the Bible, it will be overflowing over dinner, during football games, while fixing someone’s sink, and every other opportunity of life.  

This is natural community that never loses its tether to the source of life, Jesus, and his Word.

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