COMMUNITY GROUPS
Community Groups – Why Have Them?
Community is vital in our pursuit for God. At the beginning of time, God did not just create one person, but two – declaring that it wasn’t good for us to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Even in the earliest of times people naturally would venture together and live in communities, setting up their homes in close proximity to one another. It’s intuitive to want close relationships – a wife or a husband, a close friend, or a deep connection with your children and extended family. Yet in American and especially in New Jersey, meaningful community isn’t so natural and intuitive.
We live in the most densely populated state in the country having an average of over 1,100 people in each square mile of the state. Yet, even though we are surrounded by people, individualism is rampant. Since our homes are close together, many of us have certain types of trees planted around the border of our yards that act as fences. They retain privacy between us and our neighbors and the traffic that is close to our front door. We build fences to block our neighbor’s view of our homes. Our blinds often stay closed, and it’s easy to stay indoors instead of venturing out to others in light of our long winters and headaches of New Jersey traffic. Being surrounded by so many people, it’s remarkably easy to be alone, and be left alone.
God wants us to be in meaningful community. Yet as we see above, we have many road blocks keeping us from this in America, and especially in New Jersey. Redeemer Fellowship desires that we overcome these cultural roadblocks, as the Church is the “body” of Christ, one made up of many. Only through meaningful relationships can we truly be making disciples, truly experience Jesus, and begin reaching out to our community as examples of Jesus to our cities, sharing and living out the gospel.
This is why our Community Groups exist. Within our Community Groups we disciple one another, live life in community with one another, and work together on mission to our cities for the Gospel. They are more than just a bible study – we are all called to be a community of people on mission together. Our Community Groups seek to fulfill this.
As our church grows, our groups also will grow and multiply. We seek to have all our members involved in a Community Group, and prayerfully have the Jersey Shore filled with dozens of Community Groups.
To find a Community Group near you, click here. If you have any questions about Community Groups, want to join one in your area, or are interested in starting one, please contact Pastor Dan at dan@redeemernj.com