Circles are Better Than Rows

I read this quote a few weeks ago. It convicted me.

“Some in smaller churches believe that because they know the names , employers, addresses, and latest community gossip related to those involved in the church, they have an intimate friendship with them. Scripture teaches us that the family of God should be so much more! Think about those relationships for a moment. Do you really know what goes on in the homes of the members of your church? Do you know what makes them cry? What keeps them up at night? Would they feel secure enough in your relationship to call you in the middle of the night and confess their deepest secrets?” – Eric Bingaman, Releasing the Power of the Smaller Church

How many people do you really know? It can be easy for us to assume we know people…when we really don’t. God didn’t make us to live our lives in an island. Remember? The first thing He said that wasn’t good was the fact that Adam was alone. We were made for each other.

We are going to be implementing a few new ministries and tweaking some others in the very near future at Cowan Christian Church. As long as I’ve known about our congregation, I’ve heard about our church’s reputation of being friendly. Now it’s time to go deeper than that. It’s time to begin building meaningful friendships. It’s time to draw closer together as we draw closer to the Lord. And when we do that, the world will take notice and want to be part of it! And that begins by our getting face to face on a regular basis.

I recently heard this quote from Andy Stanley when talking about the necessity for building community: “Circles are better than rows!” This Sunday, we’re going to talk about how we can build on the strengths we already have as a church and become a community of circles, not just rows.

I hope to see you there!