Blog Article Tags
We love building relationships. Subscribe to our blog to receive weekly encouragement in your email inbox.
Search Blog Posts
- Details
Written by Wendy Neill, Advancement Coordinator for Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas
I grew up in a thriving church of around 3,000 people. When I tell people that, they often say, “I don’t like big churches. It’s too hard to get to know people.” Yes, it is impossible to get to know that many people. Those who only come to a large assembly on Sunday morning don’t grow very much in their faith. That’s why it is important to “think small.”
GoodFaithMedia estimates there are about 2.6 billion followers of Christ in the world today. How did Jesus start this worldwide movement? One by one, and through small groups. While Matthew was sitting in his tax office, “Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he [Matthew] arose and followed Him” (Matt. 9:9 NKJV). He called out to Simon Peter and Andrew as they were going about their daily work of fishing. “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men" (Mark 1:17).
Gradually, Jesus surrounded Himself with a group of disciples. We don’t know how many. After spending some time with them, He talked with His Father and made a focused decision.
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles. (Luke 6:12-13 NIV)
With this small group of twelve, Jesus changed the world. He had other disciples who followed Him, including women (Mark 15:41), and He preached to and healed large crowds of people. But He gave special teaching, care, and insight to these twelve. He explained parables to them, He sent them out with miraculous powers, and He went through storms with them. He focused on the twelve because He knew they would each disciple others, even after He left this earth. And it worked. His teachings spread like wildfire.
Within that group of twelve, He had three that were His inner circle: Peter, James, and John. He kept them closest in His moments of need. When He knew His death was drawing near, He took those three up to a high mountain. They had the privilege of witnessing the appearance of Elijah and Moses, encouraging Jesus to remain strong and finish His mission (Matt. 17). On that dreadful night before He was betrayed into the hands of the Pharisees, He had a special “Last Supper” with all twelve. He prayed for them, gave them some final instructions in John 13-17, and took them to Gethsemane so He could pray for strength. But in that final stretch, He only took the three with Him.
We can follow this same pattern in our relationships. My childhood faith was nourished in that big church through small group relationships. Adults taught my fourth-grade class. A young couple taught us as seventh-grade girls. My youth group numbered 200, but I had a group of about twelve close friends. We served orphans in Jamaica, built a Sunday school classroom for a poor church in south Texas, and encouraged each other in our faith. As an adult, I have had small group studies with college students or other adults in my home. And I have two or three women that I can call any time to pray for me or to walk with me through a hard time.
There are so many ways that we can seek to be like Christ. One of them is to think small. Small groups allow you to share your heart and to get beyond the pleasantries.
Are you part of a formal or informal small group of Christians? Do you have three women in your life who help you grow? If not, I encourage you to seek out and cultivate those relationships with other disciples. They are your “Iron Rose Sisters”!
- Details
Written by Jennifer Percell, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Missouri
As I followed two pickup trucks filled with our possessions, my heart was full of all the reasons I didn’t want to move. Suddenly my four-year-old son's treasure box bounced off the back of the truck in front of me. Could this day get any worse? I cried as we scoured the ditch for his penny collection and the favorite rocks my little boy thought irreplaceable.
“God, I signed up for this when I married a preacher, but I didn't realize how it would hurt to watch my children sacrifice. They are so sad about leaving our home. I want to help people find all the wonders of knowing You, but I don't know how to do that when three children depend on me for everything. God, I will go to this tiny church in this dreary town, but I don't know where I will find the time to meet the people who will listen to your Word. I am completely overwhelmed. Please bring people I can teach right to my door; I don't have any energy to go find them!”
Two days later I sat on the curb drenched in sweat and grape Popsicle. Cleaning and unpacking were brutal tasks in 100-degree weather and the squirming baby on my lap looked as unkempt and exhausted as I did. The tinny music from the ice cream truck had brought us running for relief.
“Welcome neighbor!” I can still remember looking up at the smiling face wreathed in sunlight, as my embarrassment gave way to joy. How I needed that smile! She introduced herself as the local Welcome Wagon President. She lived two doors down, and she was holding a ginger-haired toddler as messy as my own!
“That house has been empty for a year— it must be filthy. I’ll get some rags and be right over!”
God certainly sent this wonderful woman to lessen my load. We became fast friends, and her three children were instant playmates for mine. Through my new friend, I met many others and had lots of opportunities to show the love of Jesus. But God answered every detail of my prayer because the first person we baptized into Jesus in that town was my precious Welcome Wagon neighbor. She and two of her children have served God for over 30 years now.
During 45 years of ministry, God has given my husband and me countless relationships. Sharing His love always results in new Christian family. When He gave His precious Son to pay the price for our souls, He ensured that we would never be alone among His people. The reconciliation we receive because of His atoning sacrifice sets the tone for reconciling with like-minded hearts throughout our spiritual journey.
Paul expressed so well how great relationships are born of the atoning love of God.
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Phil. 2:1-4 NIV)
The love of our God fills us to overflowing, and from the overflow, we develop relationships that will last for eternity. Again, Paul says it best.
I pray that out of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together will all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide
and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19)
My cry to the Lord all those years ago on the side of the road was for the strength to lead others to Him. He always responds with so much more than I ask for. I asked Him to send me people who would respond to Him because I had no strength to seek them. He sent a friend who strengthened me as Keith and I led her to the Word and to salvation.
Our God is the God of relationships; don’t you want to reach out to others and see how He will satisfy every longing of your heart?