Attempting to live the Christian life without deep relational connections with other believers is working against how God has wired you and His Church to function. When Jesus was asked to define the greatest commandment, He said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And love your neighbor as yourself." Essentially Chtrist was saying "Love God and Love Others." The last time I checked, it is impossible to love others if there are no others in your life.

In another passage Jesus tells his followers "They will know you are my follower if you love one another." Again, it's hard to love one another when you only have one and not another. Involvement in a small group is not just another option, it is an essential ingredient to being a follower of Christ.

Yes, you can "just" come to church, sit through a Sunday service and repeat that pattern for the rest of your life, but you will be living a half-life. A community group is where people who used to "just" attend service begin to connect with 6-12 other individuals to do life together for a specific amount of time.  The goal here is to grow deep, relationally with those in your community group so that each group member has a hand in helping encourage and foster greater levels of devotion to Christ.  This is where REAL friendships are formed:

R – Regular (These friends meet regularly)

E – Essential (These friends consider their relationships with each other essential)

A – Authentic (These friends are authentic in their relationship with each other)

L – Loving (These friends are defined by their growing love for each other)

Our success as a ministry is not defined by how many people we can fit in the auditorium on Sundays but on how we help individuals move into community.

If you understand the WHY of small groups, maybe you are ready to ask HOW?