We Believe:
To become well connected to Princeton Alliance Church, we strongly encourage you to join a Community Group. People join Community Groups for many reasons - to know a few people well, to learn to grow spiritually, to connect to the body of a large church. The single most influential aspect of any healthy Community Group is caring - caring for each other and caring for the world we live in. When we care for and are cared for by others, we experience the very essence of the Gospel. John 13:34-35 says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Groups that care for one another in words and actions have the deepest and most lasting impact on our church family and our communities.
Scriptural Picture:
Acts 2:42-47 gives us a beautiful picture of what biblical community looks like. They met together to teach one another about scripture. They met together to pray and offer praises to God. They participated in full biblical fellowship which is to sharpen each other to be more like Christ. They broke bread together which was simply having fun as a group. As a group they met the needs of those around them. As a result of this beautiful picture people came to know Christ as their savior. We believe that a healthy group will have people coming to Christ as a natural outflow of the group. Because the early church picture was they were living these things in community in their community. So many times we put a Christian bubble around ourselves and this is not what we want to see happen in PAC’s community groups.
Fulness of Christ:
Once a new Community Group forms, the early experience of the members will be fellowship, light study and sharing with one another. With ample time together as a group, caring for each other will take root and grow. As group grows towards maturity, caring will broaden to others beginning with their communities and then beyond to the world. Our prayer for Community Groups is just as people who know Jesus are gifted with spiritual gifts, so also will Community Groups be gifted with specific works of service for which they will be known. Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Full Christian maturity can only take place in a group where people are empowered by the Holy Spirit, acting within their God given giftedness, are serving others together to meet the needs of all people.
Call to Action:
Our goal is for everyone to experience a Community Group during our fall Community Group campaign. It is difficult to explain the experience of being fully known and fully loved by a small group of friends. It is far better to experience it. In the process of meeting a need in someone else’s life, you will find that your heart is moved and often broken for all people in the world around you. New groups will form near you this fall. The campaign will be five weeks an will follow the sermon series on Prayer. Community Group information meetings will be held in September and the sermon series will begin on October 25.
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