After moving into five different apartments during the first five years of our marriage, my wife and I are ready to settle into a home of our own. The excitement for this milestone in our life has led us to ask the question, “What is the first thing we will do in our new home?” Buy new furniture? Likely! Enjoy watching our kiddo run around in the backyard? Certainly! Start a Small Group? Yep!

So why would starting a Small Group be among the many “firsts” we do in our new home? Well, my wife and I see this space as another place and way we can honor the Lord. In fact, the Bible speaks directly to this how we should consider and utilize the blessing of our new home. In 2 Corinthians, Paul helps answer the essence of this question when he says, “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (2 Cor. 5:9). Regardless of our station in life (moving into a new home or staying in an apartment), we desire to please Christ and live in light of what he commands.

Here are three reasons why we are planning to start a Small Group in our new home:

1. Hospitality

In the context of commanding the basics of the Christian life in Romans 12, Paul says, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Rom. 12:13). The charge here is to intentionally search out ways to care for God’s people through practical means.

A Small Group is one small way to show hospitality as we look to give, share meals, and enjoy fellowship with others within the church body.

2. Discipleship

Similarly, the writer of Hebrews exhorts,

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24-25).

We are called to disciple one another:

• Stirring up one another
• Meeting with one another
• And encouraging one another in the church

Outside the central need to gather as a church body for corporate worship on Sundays, Small Groups are a helpful way for us to intentionally press into discipling relationships. In addition, one-on-one meet ups and Bible studies are other excellent avenues for deeper discipleship.

3. Care

Our church’s Small Groups webpage states, “We know life is hard. That’s why we have Small Groups all over the city that are finding hope together.” Amen.

In Galatians, Paul exhorts us to “[b]ear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). Small Groups are one way in which we can distribute the load of the many trials we all experience in life.

Especially in this season of cultural, economic, and public health crises, we feel that it is important to lean into our church community as a means to shoulder burdens.

Same Christian Life, Brand New Home

Showing hospitality, discipling one another, and bearing each other’s burdens are all characteristics of the ordinary Christian life—regardless of where we live. But as we move into a new home, we want to press into these callings, and we believe that a Small Group is one wise and practical way for us to serve Jesus and his people.