Who Are The People Who Help Us Grow The Most?
Part 3 of "How Do I Grow If I'm The Most Mature Person In My Group?"
In my last 2 Group Leader posts I raised the question, "How do I grow spiritually if I'm the most mature person in my group?"
The first post defined the end goal of spiritual growth as "looking like Christ."
The second post shared how relationships are 1 of 5 things that God uses to help us grow to "look like Christ".
The point of the second post was to highlight that relationships are part of what grows our faith, but that our spiritual growth is not contingent solely on the people we are surrounded by.
In this third post I want to wrestle WHO God uses to help us grow.
If we desire to grow spiritually, if we are engaging with the 5 areas God uses to grow our faith, and if we want to surround ourselves with people who will help us to grow, then who are those people?
Who is it that God uses most to help us grow in our faith?
Certainly, God uses people who are further along in their faith to set an example and help us grow. Paul emphasizes the importance of this throughout his letters:
He encourages Christian's to follow his example as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
He encourages older generations to set an example for younger generations (Titus 2).
He encourages a young Christian (Timothy) to set an example for other Christians, old and young (1 Timothy 4:12).
God uses the examples of other mature Christian's to help us grow.
But here is the problem, in our desire to surround ourselves with Christian's who are further along in their faith, we miss how God is using and can use those who are less mature or newer to faith.
Several Group Leaders responded to my first post addressing this problem. They highlighted a number of ways God uses those who are less mature to help us grow. Here are some of their thoughts:
We grow and learn through them as they listen to the same Spirit of God. "We should be willing to learn from everyone in our group as the Spirit leads both them and us. If I get to the point where I am thinking that I am spiritually more mature then them, and they don't have much to offer me, then I think I need to re-evaluate my perspective of them. God did put them into my group for a mutually beneficially purpose. We are all parts of the body of Christ and all have our parts to play." (Rich Winchell)
We grow as we invest in them one-on-one; listening to their thoughts, offering feedback, having difficult conversations, and praying for them. "Many times we need to have difficult conversations with people...It makes me need Jesus in ways I haven't before." (Charlie Pilger)
We grow by submitting ourselves to accountability with them. "It shows your fallibility, speaks leadership into your group members, and it actually makes you a better Jesus follower." (Graham Spruill)
We grow by watching their zeal and pursuit of obedience. "In my group there are lots of long time christians and even multiple pastors but the guy I'm challenged and encouraged by most... is a new believer who is on fire for Christ and wrestling through those initial tensions of faith, that us "long timers" have forgotten about." (Adam Congdon)
There is no one person we will have in our life that will lead us to full maturity...we grow in our faith in community.
That is why we have the whole body of Christ.
We learn from those who are newer to faith.
We learn from those who have been longtime followers of Jesus.
Maybe you are thinking,
"Okay Jason, you've made your point. We can grow in our faith from both spiritually mature and immature people. I get that.
I've got plenty of spiritually immature people I can learn and grow from, and I need to be more humble about learning from them, but I'd love to also have some more spiritually mature people in my life who can help me grow. How can I find that? If there are not many or any in my group, what do I do?"
Where can we find spiritually mature people to help us grow? We'll talk about that in our next post.
What do you think? What questions, pushback, or ideas do you have? I'd love to learn and share your ideas with others! Just email me HERE.
Additional Resources
How Do I Grow If I'm The Most Mature Person In My Group? - Part 1
This Is How We Grow - Part 2
10 Christmas Social and Serving Ideas
Creating A "FLIGHT PLAN" For Your Group (Video) Being intentional about beginning, sustaining, and multiplying your group.
Looking For A Service Opportunity For Your Group?
The Monroe County Department of Human Services is launching the CarePortal to partner local churches with hurting families in the community and Northridge Church is one of the official launch churches. Check out the video below to learn more about this exciting opportunity.
Questions?
Contact your Group Coach or search this website. We'd love to be a resource to you!
