The Social in the Small Membership Church

By Robin G. Jordan

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul writes the Church at Corinth, “Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Everything they do at their meetings should be done to help each other grow. It should be done with the view to build up the faith and character of those present. This includes any unbelievers that may be present at the meeting.

The principle that Paul articles in his first letter to the Corinthians is a very important one. It is applicable not just to worship gatherings but to all church meetings. Whenever the Church of Christ gathers, whatever the nature of the meeting, it should nurture the spiritual growth of those attending the meeting.

This does not mean that every meeting should include a sermon or teaching. But it should in one or more ways foster the attendees’ spiritual development. The size or nature of the meeting does not matter.

A “social” may achieve this purpose in a number of ways. A “social” may be a picnic, a campout, a barbecue, a trip to the beach or the lake, a potluck supper at someone’s house, or any other kind of social or recreational activity that brings people together, particularly believers and non-believers. The purpose of the “social” is to get together with other people and to have fun. Cornering non-believers and peddling Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Christianity, or the church is off-limits, as is jumping on non-believers and putting them straight when they voice an opinion with which a believer disagrees. Believers are expected to let non-believers express their views freely, listen to them, and to refrain from interrupting them. It is not a time for low grace high risk evangelizing.

A “social” provides an environment in which believers may learn to relate to non-believers in a low pressure, non-threatening way and to build relationships with non-believers. They can develop their “active kindness” and “active friendship” skills. It helps believers and non-believers to overcome their prejudices and preconceptions about each other and to feel more comfortable around each other. It gives believers an opportunity to “demonstrate a genuinely enjoyable party atmosphere” when non-believers come to check them out. It also provides them with an opportunity to show that non-believers are really welcome; that they are glad they are there. Non-believers see a different side of believers. They not only see them having fun with other believers but also with non-believers. They encounter a real attitude of acceptance. Believers and non-believers have an opportunity to bond with each other.

A "social" also reinforces and strengths the sense of community of a small membership church, house church, home group, or cell group. It is a reminder that we follow Jesus not in isolation from other Christians but in fellowship with them. It shows non-believers that the Christian life is not a solitary life but a life as a part of a community.

“But how does this nurture spiritual growth?” You may ask. Spiritual growth involves movement—God-ward movement. The believer moves closer to the kind of person that God wills him to be. The non-believer moves closer to God. The positive interactions at the “social” and the consequent internal changes in the believer and the non-believer further this movement and therefore foster the spiritual development of the believer and the unbeliever.

“Aren’t you relying on our own natural strength and our own efforts to turn non-believers to Christ?” You may object. Not all. We have no power of our own to move non-believers closer to God. As Article X draws to our attention, the grace of God must first be given to us through Christ in order that we may have a good will to reach out to unbelievers, invest in relationships with them, and eventually to share the gospel with them. The same grace must continue working within us to maintain that good will.

It is like gardening. You must prepare the soil before you plant the seed. Then you weed and water the garden. It is not only God who ultimately who makes the seed sprout and grow and gives the increase but also it is God who prompts us to prepare the soil, to plant the seed, to water and to weed. We are simply tools through whom God works. God is working in us to will and do his good pleasure. We may do a great deal of work but God must receive all the credit because if it was not for God we would not have thought of it or been able to do it in the first place. If a non-believer accepts Christ as his Savior and Lord, it is not our doing but God’s. God is also at work in the non-believer.

If we look at the Bible and life we find no evidence that God causes spiritual perfection in us while we do nothing. Zap! One minute we are a sinner and the next minute we are spiritually perfect. We may be accounted righteous before God in a blink of an eye the moment that we believe. But we are sanctified, made holier and godlier, over a period of time, and we have a part in the process. God, of course, could make us instantly spiritually perfect. With God nothing is impossible. But he does not work that way.

God gives spiritual life to the non-believer so that he is able to move from non-believer to seeker to believer to fully functioning disciple of Jesus Christ. All believers do not come to faith with a “road to Damascus experience”—see a bright light and hear the voice of Christ. God works in each of us differently. But God’s calling is effectual. It accomplishes what God purposes.

The process by which God may bring a non-believer to faith and makes him a Jesus follower is intertwined with the process by which God “perfects the saints.” The believer grows up in all things in Christ the head while the non-believer comes to know the Father and the Son, which is eternal life. This is not to confuse justification with sanctification. Rather it is to recognize that God works through the process of perfecting the saints to reach the spiritually disconnected and unchurched with the good news.