Ric H.
" The Power of a Biblical Community "
During college, after I made a conscious decision to become a follower of Jesus, I had a fairly concrete routine of reading my Bible, praying, and going to church on Sundays. This was a rewarding routine, but there was still something missing. You see, during this period of time, I had not surrounded myself with a group of people who were also followers of Jesus. Understand, I saw, shared, and conversed with fellow believers on Sundays, but outside of that, it was the same routine Monday through Saturday for the most part. I thought that I could be a passionate follower of Jesus all by myself as long as I prayed, read my Bible, and went to church on Sundays. Again, something was missing.
Enter Aletheia Community Groups. Upon coming to Aletheia, the thing that was most new to me was the idea of a small group of believers gathering together as a spiritual support system. What’s so great about Aletheia community groups is that they allow people to connect relationally with the goal of growing in Christ likeness, loving one another, and contributing to the work of the church in order to glorify God. It indeed glorifies God when He sees us display true love and compassion for one another as the early church did. Christ modeled biblical community for us by spending the majority of His time with His disciples – teaching, encouraging, and correcting them. They lived, ate, traveled, prayed, and served together. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”.
Since joining an Aletheia community group, I now see that connecting with other followers of Christ is an essential part of our transformation. True biblical community is more than just having Christian friends. It’s a spiritual discipline focused on helping one another become fully devoted followers of Jesus. I can testify in many ways personally how community groups have helped me in my walk since becoming a part of Aletheia. It was the result of a community group lesson that the Lord led me to be re-baptized in the consciousness of what baptism really signified. That is just one of many significant moments experienced in my community group. It is such a blessing to be surrounded by a group of guys that I trust and have a genuine concern for my spiritual and physical well being.
So there was indeed something missing from my Christian life. It was consistent fellowship with other followers of Jesus. It is in the context of Biblical community that we can exhort one another, pray for one another, celebrate with one another and ultimately lift up Jesus’ name together. Praise the Lord for Biblical community. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
Joelle B
" Community Groups "
As Christians, it can be easy to slip into the deadly habit of coming to church, getting spiritually fed, working hard during the week, reading our Bible, investing in our relationship with God, and making sure that we are living how we should be living by not giving way to temptation in our lives. But what is wrong this life cycle? Are we not supposed to do all of those things as Christians? The problem with this life cycle, is not what the Christian is doing, but what he/ she is not doing. The problem with this cycle is that it is completely focused on meeting our spiritual needs, but never takes into account other Christians in the community around us.
Until I got involved in a Community Group at Aletheia, I was one of those Christians who was so focused on myself and my needs being met spiritually that I never noticed the other Christians around me. I never offered to bear their burdens or uplift them in prayer, because I was too busy worrying about my own. The problem was that I was so intrinsically focused, that I never thought about the other Christians around me.
Christ calls us to imitate Him in our lives. He forsook himself and loved us. His focus was not on His own needs, but ours. In John 15, the same chapter that talks all about abiding in Christ and building a relationship with Him, Jesus also calls us to love one another, as He has loved us. He says that the greatest love is laying one’s life down for his friend. If we are in love with God, then that love should compel us to no longer live for ourselves, but for Him: His work, His agenda, His passions. We are called to lay down our own lives.
So what does living like Christ and serving others have to do with being involved in a Community Group? I found that when going to community group, I was forced to take some of the focus off of myself and put it on the other girls around me. Listening to each other’s prayer requests and praises, lifting each other up in prayer, providing accountability with one another, serving one another as well as others who don’t have a relationship with Christ, learning together, and bearing one another’s burdens are some of the things that Community Groups are all about. I learned what it was like to take what I’ve learned from scripture and apply it to everyday life. I found such contentment from living the way God called Christians to live: setting our own interests aside, while focusing on the needs of other men and women around us.
Seeing how important Community Groups were and how much the one I attended blessed me, I felt like God was calling me to begin leading one. I can say that it has been such a blessing to be able to invest in other girls’ lives and take the focus on myself and imitate Christ. It has been such a great way to get plugged in to the work that God is doing here at Aletheia.
Chantel S
" Small Togetherness, Great Strength "
Girls do everything in groups….we eat together, exercise together, watch tv together, go shopping together, even go to the bathroom together. Nearly everything is a group activity. Guys don’t always understand it, or maybe they just act like they don’t understand it, because deep down, they love the “group” idea as well. There’s something about just being with other people that immediately makes us stronger, wiser, and more alive. And, the beautiful thing is, it’s not just women, but humanity in general. We were created for community.
At Aletheia, we as followers of Christ understand that need. We have a mission to live out the message of Christ in word and deed where He has placed us. It’s impossible to do that alone. Within the pages of Scripture there are over fifty “one anothers” that we are supposed to be daily exhibiting—love one another, encourage one another, bear one another’s burdens, pray for one another, and a host of others. In order to do that, it’s imperative that we become intimately involved with a small band of believers. That doesn’t mean just coming to Sunday services and making a few casual acquaintances. You can’t really know, relate to, and trust everyone. That’s where community groups must emerge.
Within these smaller groups, lives are shared as support is offered, leadership develops, and spiritual growth happens through Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and food. Community groups of 8-10 men or women are the perfect place to get to know people, make friends, and enjoy one another’s hospitality, but also enter into God’s incredible plan for the future of our city. The groups are strategically located so that members can become interknit into one another’s lives, resulting in informal get-togethers and the formation of long-term friendships. As we grow together in the message of Christ, more people will be brought into the larger community, and the restoration of God’s kingdom will spill out from Aletheia into our neighborhoods and city. That’s the beauty of small groups overflowing from our larger group gathering.
We here at Aletheia long to be a worshipping community where God is the center of all worship, a welcoming community, where Christians live and breathe the message of Christ that others may be drawn to it, a growing and serving community where people grow in faith and serve others throughout Richmond, the nations, and the world. Practically, we best fulfill this mission by submerging ourselves within a community group. There, we can develop friendship in Jesus, knowing that it is only by and through His power that we can help, strengthen, and encourage one in the first place.
For me personally, my community group is a place where I feel loved by lovers of God, nurtured by readers of His Word, and challenged by believers of His promises. We are all from different backgrounds, we carry different burdens, we have different personalities, and we even disagree at times. But, we share the need for redemption through Jesus Christ and the same vision for making Him famous. To that end we lay ourselves open to Him.
There is strength in numbers. We need each other. Come, let us find joy, hope, and grace in the shared life for which God created us. Acts 2:42-47
Erin
" Building a Community "
In the wake of my first semester at VCU, it’s been crazy seeing how much God’s shown Himself. Coming here, knowing a few friends, but otherwise walking into a completely new and unknown situation… One of the most mysterious things about God to me is His ability to completely anticipate everything I need. At the beginning of the church in Acts 2, after the apostles had told the people of Jerusalem about Jesus and all He is and did, Luke spoke of the intense community that those who understood formed together. Imagine all of those people, in a city that was not their own, all of a sudden coming together to provide for the needs of each other, through God’s word, fellowship with one another, breaking bread and praying together.
God knows that we need this around us. We are one body in Christ, of one mind and Spirit. I met about 4 girls at the beginning of the semester and we agreed to meet once a week to learn from scripture together. In addition, we wanted to pray together and support one another. Our group of 4 began growing and growing, reaching 20 by December. One girl would bring a friend to learn more about Christ, another would ask for prayer for her family, another would bring snacks to share with the group just because she wanted to help, one girl would ask a question that revealed more of the character of God, and together we would go out and share the gospel with others on campus and in the city.
I look to my left and to my right and I see beautiful men and women, all shining the light of Christ into my life. We need love. As a popular tv show said recently, “I believe in love, and I believe in second chances.” I know that there is a supreme Lord that came, lived, died and rose again for a broken and rebellious sinner. I also know that HE IS LOVE, and He dwells in the heart of each of us that have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. We show His love every day to one another. They will know we are Christians by our love. Together we form the body. As it says in Ecclesiastes, “If one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” When we are together, we are strong in Christ.