In a recent poll, 80% of adults said that involvement in a church community is not critical to the development of their spiritual faith.  The poll concluded that even though the Bible is unambiguous about the importance of experiencing God through a shared faith journey, and Jesus’ example leaves no room for doubt about the significance of involvement in a faith community, Americans remain unconvinced of the necessity of being connected to a faith community.

Our goal at Constance is to see transformation take place in each of our lives. We not only believe that this happens best in the form of a small group community, but we believe that God has designed each one of us to live in significant community relationships.

God tells us in Genesis that He created us in His image. Since we are created in his likeness we reflect aspects of God’s nature (Genesis 1:26) – and we see God’s nature defined through intimate relationships – relationships between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus used this model of relationships within the Triune God as a picture of what his followers should be. Jesus prayed for all believers, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21).

We see in Jesus’ prayer a call for his followers to be unified in purpose, in love, in service with and for one another, in joint-submission to God.

It may be possible for believers to be unified in purpose without connecting in small groups, but the relational closeness expressed in Jesus’ prayer for love demonstrated to one another, service taken with and for one another, joint submission — this implies the type of closeness that only achieved through an investment of significant time together.

Jesus is describing a family relationship that is not achieved by shaking hands with someone on Sunday morning, serving in ministry with others, or merely attending an adult Bible-study or class.

Our emphasis on small groups at Constance recognizes that it is not enough for people to simply have connections with friends or connections with those who provide advice and accountability.
We all need community relationships that “bring a layer of structure and intentionality to our otherwise random and unstructured friendships.”   An issue with our weekend services, or even our adult education classes, is that people can often participate in near anonymity. On the other hand, small groups encourage spiritual growth by challenging and encouraging us in our relationship with God.

That is why — if you do one thing at Constance, if you are wondering how to get connected at Constance, if you are wondering how you can grow in your relationship with God... join a small group. Because community matters.