Pastor’s Corner September 2005

The following was published in our monthly newsletter, the Redeemer Report.

Home Fellowship Groups are an important part of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. The concept of “small groups” has become widely practiced in evangelical churches more recently, however the practice of smaller, home-sized meetings in addition to the regular Sunday worship gathering of the entire church is not new. The early church certainly functioned this way

– Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts…

Home Fellowship Group meetings complement our regular Sunday gatherings in that they provide a time to “share life” together, to connect with other members, and to have our children experience the church as a family. Through Home Fellowship Groups, we hope to encourage closer relationships between the members of our congregation. As we grow together in this way, our times of corporate worship is enhanced because we are more unified and connected with our fellow worshippers. Home Fellowship Groups, by design, are a time for closer fellowship, prayer, and bible study with other families and individuals in the church.

We have a slightly different format for our Home Fellowship Group meetings this year. The time allotment will be the same at 90 minutes (1/3 bible study, 1/3 prayer, 1/3 fellowship); however, instead of independent bible studies, each group will be focusing on application of the sermons that are being preached Sunday morning. Essentially, the Home Fellowship Group leader will use the sermon outlines as the basis for the study and discussion you will have during the bible study portion of the meeting. Your only preparation is to listen to the sermons Sunday morning (taking notes would be even better!). This is an effort to further unify our congregation around the exposition of the Word of God that we sit under weekly. Further, this allows for more specific, personal ideas for applying the Word preached to our daily lives. Home Fellowship Group meetings are a time to say- “we know what the bible says, we know what’s true- now what should we do about it?” The elders agree this will be a very effective way to live out the biblical teaching we receive each week.

My family loves our Home Fellowship Group meetings. I wish everyone would make involvement a priority. We have our meetings just every other week, I can’t urge you strongly enough to be involved! Our culture is one of “disconnectedness”, this should not be so for the Church of Christ! Home Fellowship Groups can certainly be a place where important spiritual connections are made and deeper relationships forged. This has been the case for my family and I know it can be so for yours. If you have not been assigned to a group, please call the church office today!

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich