Friends
Since becoming followers of Jesus, my family has always sought fellowship in small groups. Sometimes those groups are part of a larger church program, but more often it is simply friends who are walking together for a season. During the last several years there is a particular group of friends we’ve been intentionally walking with. We enjoy meals, share life, and walk out our journeys with God together. This includes a weekly gathering along with occasionally going to movies, hiking, or doing other things. It’s like having an extra set of brothers and sisters. In fact, we share the same spiritual Father and have His DNA flowing through us so we truly are family.
There is no particular pattern to our gatherings other than we meet weekly for dinner and a time to be together. Dinner ends up being a couple of hours of conversation and, of course, includes dessert. The gamut of topics from the mundane to the extraordinary could be discussed on any given night. And sometimes we have gone from one end to the other so fast it makes our heads spin. Along with general dinner conversation we often do some type of bible study, devotional, or discuss something we’re reading. Once in a while we sing songs, pray, and worship God together.
The beautiful thing about our times together is that it is truly like a healthy family. There are no set rules or pattern of meeting to follow. There are no hidden agendas or forced spiritual topics that must be covered in a certain time. If one of us has had a really rough day, we may blow off anything we planned to do and sit around and eat and talk for a few hours or call off our get together entirely. Also, as a healthy family, we are free to disagree with each other on various issues, yet maintain the love that binds us together because of our common bond in Christ. We teach each other, learn from each other, encourage each other, and support each other.