Morph-ing

Morph didn't use to be a verb, it was just a noun, but then it slowly changed into something else. Our small groups have had different names and branding - house groups, bible studies, home groups, cells, missional communities, the brotherhood of darkness (we didn't use that one in the end.) Our even smaller groups have morphed similarly - prayer triplets, prayer partners, life transformation groups, accountability groups. But my passion for small community life in the church is not that it conforms to one model, or has a particular name, or meets on the same night of the week, but simply that it happens.

Hopefully you are starting to notice that a priority this autumn at the Abbey is to strengthen our small community life and broaden its range. Change is already well under way; we are morphing in the light of God (apologies, yes I know that was really, really bad.) Three groups have already emerged with a fresh focus on theology, marriage and the creative arts. There are new welcome and discipleship groups at our 4pm service and our new 10.30am daytime home group is growing well. Some groups are meeting monthly, others fortnightly and some weekly. Some are studying John's gospel to accompany our autumn series, others aren't. Some groups will last for ever; others will last for a season. We don't want a utopian conformity in how we meet together but a realistic diversity. In the midst of this flexibility we are seeing new life emerge and already 50-60 people have reconnected to small community life. 

And when we disagree with someone, or don't like the carpet of our homegroup host, or get bored with X saying the same thing every week and Y doing their irritating prayers, we would do well to think on these words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his Life Together:

Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this, and none that is less than this. Whether it be a brief single encounter or the daily community of many years, Christian community is solely this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.

There is a profound and liberating simplicity to what Bonhoeffer says, community life is at the foot of the cross. Life together, it seems, is unchanging, profoundly uninfluenced by culture, chemistry, tradition and dynamics; life together is founded simply on Christ. But life together does change as it grows, and it grows as we join in and grow up together.

You can find more information at abbeysmallcommunities.blogspot.co.uk , where you will also find discussion starters from our Sunday talks on John’s gospel. Please contact Sandie in the Parish Office if you'd like to get involved in any way.