Friday, October 1

Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity.                                Colossians 3:12-14

Without a doubt, my wife and I would agree that the births of our four sons were the most exciting and joyful moments in our 25 years of marriage. Of course my wife’s joy was slightly different than mine because she also had to go through labor and delivery – whereas I was more of a “spectator” in the whole thing! But one of the things that made those moments even more special was sharing them with several of my guy friends from FBCG. Within hours of each of my boys being born – these guys met me at the hospital just to spend a few minutes looking through the window at this little scrunched up red face – to slap me on the back, make goofy jokes, and simply share my joy. In those moments I knew two things – I was blessed beyond measure with the birth of a son – and I was loved by those guys who shared my joy.

Fellowship is the spiritual “Velcro” of the church. Fellowship is forged by shared worship, shared truth and, ultimately, shared life. To share life means to be willing to share the kind of relationship with each other that allows us to share each other’s joy, to share each other’s pain and, simply put, to love each other.

In order to experience this kind of connection – we must do more than worship together in a big group on Sunday morning. Don’t get me wrong – worship is the life-blood of the church – but our connection with each other only goes so deep in a big group. Our connection grows as we share the truth of God’s word and equip ourselves to serve together. But the strongest and deepest sense of connection happens when we share the joys and pains of life together. And this happens best in smaller groups.

At FBCG this kind of sharing life happens in all kinds of ways. Most of our major ministries eventually break down in to smaller groups where relationships can be forged. In the next few weeks we will be launching our “C-Group” ministry (Core Groups, Couples Groups, Content Groups, etc.) – which invite people to join some kind of in-home small group experience. I hope you will consider taking a step out of your comfort zone in order to find a comfort zone! I hope this will be the year when you can share what it means to be “devoted to the fellowship!”

Prayer: Thank God for the connections you have already made with other followers of Jesus. Ask him to deepen your experience of shared joy, shared pain and shared love as you grow together through sharing life.


Brian Coffey