Over the years people in my church have expressed concern that there are cliques in our church family. The word “clique” reminds me of my high school cafeteria. You could look across the large space full of tables and see the cliques, the small groups of people, like the football players, the cheerleaders, the academics, the band members, drama team, and my own clique, the soccer players, to name a few. Have we adults grown up out of our high school cliques?
The people who make accusations about cliques in the church, give the impression that everyone in a church family should be equally together and loving. Remember (in this post) that the early church in Acts 2:42-47 was together and had everything in common, and there were 3120 of them. Additionally, we read that God was adding to their number daily. So it can seem as though a church should be one big, or even really big, happy family.
As we look closer at Acts 2:42-47, however, there’s more to the story. Smaller groups of people who really bond together, who do life together, even if they appear to be a clique to some, can be a very good thing. Yes, the early church had large group meetings in the temple and they had small group meetings in homes.
We can have Christian brotherly and sisterly love for everyone in our church, but we can and should share life with only a much smaller group.
Last week I mentioned Hebrews 10:25. I mentioning it again in this post because the writer of Hebrews brings together last week’s emphasis on encouraging one another and this week emphasis on meeting together: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
We need each other. Here’s an axiom for you (remember axioms from this post?): We can’t encourage one another if we aren’t meeting together on a regular basis.
We see these themes in what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
Those two passages teach us that meeting together means that we are a community who share our lives with each other. That is not to say that we can be best friends with everyone in the church. Well, maybe we can be best friends with everyone in a church family that has only 10 people.
It is also quite important for us to be welcoming, even in a larger group. Listen to this story about a group of guys who went to a restaurant where there was an amazing culture of welcome.
What can you do to enhance that kind of culture of welcoming in your church family? Be on the alert for people in your church, especially those who are newer, who might be disconnected. Take the initiative to meet with them, reach out to them. On a Sunday, if you see your friends who you enjoy the most, or feel closest to, it will be most easy to go over and talk with them.
I encourage you, instead, to make Sundays about being quick to include those who might be disconnected.
Christians, let’s be people who meet together with other disciples of Jesus to share life together, pursuing the mission of God’s Kingdom together. If you are uncertain how to start, I encourage you to talk with your church leaders and pastors. They will be able to point you to the opportunities for going deeper that are already available in your church family. For example, at Faith Church we have fellowship time after worship, we have Sunday school classes, Wednesday prayer meeting, home care groups and Bible studies, and we have serve teams.
I also encourage you to consider listening to this podcast episode in which Preston Sprinkle interviews John Mark Comer about Christian meeting together.
For more of my thoughts on cliques, read this post.
Photo by Kevin Schmid on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 