As we consider the various ministry aspects of our church, we could look at many points of blessing:

• Being able to hold our Beach Church service every week in a public atmosphere and the people it reaches.
• We witness the regular occurrence of baptisms.
• Having children and young families engaging in our church gives us hope for the future.
• The facilities we have for our ministry.
• The way the Lord has provided financially for the ministry.
• The engagement we have in missions both locally and globally.

Here is a blessing I want to emphasize this week that would be easy for us to miss. I am blessed to lead this ministry with 4 lay elders who are serving this church well and care deeply for the spiritual well being of each person God entrusts to our care. The role of Elder is in part shepherding the congregation together by wisely seeking God’s direction of how to lead the people to grow in Christ likeness. We believe that encompasses leading a person from a pre-Christian state all the way to a mature and influencing follower of Christ. As an Elder Body, we frequently revisit a dynamic we call the Discipleship Pathway. This is a biblical roadmap we want to help each person in our congregation move through so they can increasingly become more like Christ. While we realize the people of our congregation will all be in different places on that journey, we strive to meet people where they are at and gently nudge them in a direction where the Holy Spirit can lead that person to a new level of growth. The primary way we believe this will be done in our church is through community-based small groups.

When the month of September concludes Sue and I will celebrate 5 full years as your Pastor and wife. In some ways it seems just like yesterday that we moved to Kure Beach and began leading this ministry. And at the same time, I look back and am amazed at all that God has done in just 5 years. 5 years ago, this church had no community groups and about 14 adults attending 2 Sunday School classes on Sunday mornings. As part of changes the church decided to implement, we committed to start relationship based small groups. That started with just two groups. Sue and I led one, Greg and Sue Basinger, together with Wendy Adams led another one. From those two small groups we have multiplied our groups so that we now have 10 Community Groups, 1 Ministry Based Small Group, 3 Adult Classes on Sunday Mornings and 3 children and youth groups. Of all those groups we have around 140 people engaged in the Discipleship Pathway. While we celebrate what God has done, we recognize there is more to do.

After 5 years of walking the Discipleship Pathway with our people the Elder Body believes it is time to reemphasis the important of our Community Based Small Groups. The messages for the next two Sundays will be devoted to that sole purpose. Art Paschal is one of our current Elders who also leads a Community Group and serves as a coleader of our Adult Discipleship Ministry with Susann Ebbertts. I thought that it would be imperative for the congregation to understand the importance of Community Groups from someone else besides me, so I asked Art to prepare and deliver a message. Art will preach on Sunday, September 13^th and I will preach this Sunday. This two-part message Art and I will share is titled “Community Groups: The Culture for Spiritual Growth.” Together we will lay out a biblical foundation for a church to have Community Based Small Groups, how they function in our church and then challenge our entire congregation to commit to a Community Group.

Many Churches will offer small groups as part of a buffet of opportunities for spiritual growth. Kure Beach First Baptist Church is different. We are not a church that offers small groups, we are a church of small groups! (Maybe read that last sentence again.) Yes, Community Based Small Groups are where we receive instruction from God’s Word, but they are so much more than that. At our Community Groups people share in the deep fellowship that is needed for true accountability and transformation. Community Groups are where we offer and receive support for the challenges of life. We share prayer requests with other people who really know and understand our lives and the need we are sharing with them. Through Community Groups we discover what serving others is all about. I sometimes like to think that the messages I preach are the catalyst for growth in people’s lives, but I know that the Sunday message only compliments what our people are experiencing in their community groups.

Over the next two Sunday’s Art and I will challenge you in two areas: 1) if you are not currently in a Community Group to join one, and 2) if you are in a Community Group, be committed to that group. Community Groups will only be effective as the people in the group are committed to attending and engaging with the rest of the group.

I know this has been a much longer blog post and sermon preview. I wanted you to know that what we are doing over the next two weeks comes out of the loving concern that our Elder Body has for you and for your spiritual growth. Please plan to join us this week and next we will learn about the culture of Community Groups.