Growth Groups and Spiritual Growth

I've been pondering the question: Do growth groups truly result in spiritual growth? After giving it some thought, here's my test that will help me (and you) answer the question.

If you hadn't joined a growth group would you have done the following on your own over the past 10-12 weeks?

1. Met together with 10-15 other people once a week to discuss Biblical concepts and pray? Yes or no?

2. Worked through a biblically based cirriculum (i.e. book or DVD)? Yes or no?

3. Got together with 10-15 other people and reached out to the community showing God's love in a practical way through a servant evangelism project? Yes or no?

4. Served at church for setup & teardown once a month? Yes or no?

5. Learned the needs of 10-15 other people in the church and faithfully prayed for them throughout the week? Yes or no?

6. Met together with 10-15 other people from church and had a party? Yes or no?

7. Met someone new from church? Yes or no?

If you answered "no" to ANY of those questions, then you grew spiritually as a result of being a part of a growth group.

1. Proverbs 27:17 says, As iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another. When we rub shoulders with other believers we are spiritually "sharpened".

2. Psalm 119:109 says, How can a young person keep his way pure? By living according to God's Word. When we study the Bible (and biblical principles) it helps us stay pure.

3. John 1:1 says, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. That is to say - Jesus left heaven and came to us. He reached out to us with his love. When you reach out in love to others with a servant evangelism project you are following in the footsteps of Jesus.

4. Mark 10:45 says, Jesus came to serve, not to be served. When we volunteer for setup and teardown we are following in the footsteps of Jesus.

5. First Thessalonians 5:17 says, Pray continually. When we meet with our groups and take up the prayer requests - we all have something to pray about!

6. Acts 2:42 teaches that the 1st century church (the first church ever) devoted themselves to four things: 1) the apostles teaching (the Scriptures), 2) fellowship, 3) the breaking of bread (sharing communion meals with one another) and 4) prayer. When we have a party together at the end of each semester we are fulfilling the biblical purpose of "fellowship".

7. Galatians 6:10 refers to the church as a family. Can you imagine having a brother or sister in your biological family and not introducing yourself and learning their name? It's just as crazy in the body of Christ to not be continually meeting your new brothers and sisters in the Lord!

We set up growth groups at New Day to help you fulfill the teachings of Scripture. And when you do that you GROW SPIRITUALLY!

So now let me pose the question I was asking myself TO YOU. Do growth groups help people grow spiritually? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.