What if you were a part of a community of believers who really entrusted themselves to each other’s care? A group where you can openly talk of your pain and others respond with deep understanding, compassion, and prayer. You can speak of your joys, and people rejoice with you. You can be honest about your struggles with sin, and others run to help you fight and pray with you. A group where you can even humbly and graciously recognize differences with others and still live in love for each other.

If you long for that kind of community, welcome to the club! This is the longing of every human.

Within a church family, sincere love, honor, and care for each other does not have to be a dream, it should (and can) be a reality!

With all of the ethnic, social, and political turmoil we face in our world, people are desperate for a world of harmony and love. However, society’s attempts continue to implode. The reason is, apart from the work of the gospel, a loving unified community is only a dream.

This is the beauty of the local church.

In His love, God has sent Jesus, not only to reconcile sinners to Himself but to reconcile sinners with one another and then gather them together to display the unifying power of the Gospel in local churches. Within a church family, sincere love, honor, and care for each other does not have to be a dream, it should (and can) be a reality!

This Fall, our Sunday evening Growth Groups are going to work through the little booklet, Caring for One Another, by Ed Welch. The goal of this study is to not only see that meaningful relationships are possible, but also how, by God’s grace, they can become a natural part of the daily life of Lebanon Baptist Church.

Together, we will learn that the Lord designed His church in such a way that ordinary people care for one another’s souls. With Jesus as our example, you will be encouraged to move towards people and find practical ways of graciously doing so.

This study will be different than many others that our small groups have done in the past. Each lesson is designed to be read out loud with the whole group together. Each brief chapter ends with questions to reinforce the lesson, generate discussion, and provide opportunities for sharing and caring. The questions are thought-provoking without being threatening.

Our study will begin on September 22. Even if you’re not a part of a Growth Group, go ahead and pick up a copy of the book anyway. We want every church member to learn the importance and practice of Caring for One Another.

Would you begin to pray that God would grow us to be a community of believers that walk in humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2-3).