CONNECTION POINTE
RPC Adult Small Group Leadership Newsletter - March 2017
Love One Another's of Scripture - The Key to "Doing" God's Love
God gave Moses ten commandments on Mt. Sinai. These laws formed the basis of the orthodox Jew's moral and religious belief system. Imagine the impact of telling the disciples in the Upper Room that "I'm going to give you a new commandment." He then spoke three phases:
- Love one another,
- As I have loved you, so you must love one another,
- All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one other (John 13:34-35).
Dr. Don McMinn shared during our February ReGroup that thirty-six times in the New Testament we see a recurring word pattern - an action verb followed by the words one another. Dr. McMinn believes that "Love One Another" is the overarching commandment and the other thirty-five are sub-commandments that define how we are to love - "Comfort one another" (2 Cor. 1:4), "Forgive one another" (Col. 3:13), "Accept one another" (Romans 15:7) and so forth.
Guess what the key is for every small group leader? It is found in Matthew 22:34-40 and can be summarized in four words: Love God, Love Others.
Here is an interesting excerpt from an article by Carolyn Taketa on "Why Small Groups?":
God never intended for us to live the Christian life alone. How can we apply these "one another" references unless we are in intentional, close relationships with each other? God calls us to love, not in an abstract or superficial way, but in a deep, face to face, life-on-life, transformative way—which is difficult and inevitably messy.
In our modern culture, small groups are often viewed merely as a program or a fellowship ministry within the church. But for the New Testament church, it was a way of life, encompassing every area of their lives. Their relationships with one another were critical to their pursuit of Jesus, their growth in Christ, and their witness to the Good News. It would be impossible to experience biblical community apart from spiritually significant, intentional relationships with other believers. Relational structures like small groups, therefore, are an integral part of "being" the church and not just "doing" church.
Rockpointe Church echoes those sentiments with a hardy "Amen!"
Note: If you did not attend ReGroup but would like to get a copy of the Love One Another workbook for use in your group, please contact Mike at miked@rpcstaff.org.
Small Group IMPACT | Global Missions Opportunity | May 9th-15th
This year we have a great opportunity to partner with Bill and Peg Pearson in the Dominican Republic. We will be taking a trip to Santo Domingo, May 9-15. This is an incredible opportunity to support the work that God is doing through our missionaries there. No time is wasted once you hit the ground in Santo Domingo. This trip will be four (4) full days of work from sun-up to sun-down. There are so many opportunities to serve the community, we want to make the greatest impact while we are there.
Service opportunities may include, but are not limited to:
Playing with kids at an orphanage
Sharing testimonies in school
Work projects in/around the apartment and the five churches that Bill and Peg have been planted in that city
Assisting with prep and serving
Teaching English
Organizing mission supplies
Street evangelism with local pastors
Small Group Ministry Update
First and foremost, THANK YOU to each and every RPC Small Group Leader for your faithful service in caring and shepherding your flock of families. You are critical to RockPointe's ministry as you are capable of ministering more deeply, compassionately and completely than is our limited # of ministerial staff personnel.
Secondly, THANK YOU to all of the RPC Small Group Leaders and Members that hosted tables for the Small Group Palooza on January 15th. The event was again very fruitful in identifying 61 families that desired to connect and grow in an RPC Small Group. As of this writing, 39 have been assigned and we are working to find homes for the additional folks plus those that express interest every week. This highlights our ministry's biggest prayer request from Matthew 9:38 "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field". Please pray with us that God will raise up new leaders for His harvest.
Lastly, a big hearty THANK YOU to the Leaders and Members of RockPointe and CrossPointe churches that were able to take a night away from family and other church related responsibilities to attend the ReGroup Training Event on February 8th. Dr. Don McMinn provided a simple yet profound reminder of how Jesus expects us to Love One Another. We have included a link to the ReGroup Video below.
February 8th ReGroup Video
Upcoming Events - March, April and May 2017
Feed the Hunger March 30 - April 1
Men of Nehemiah Friday Fun Night April 7, 6 - 9 pm
Hands Across the Community May 2017
Small Group Leader Reminders
Please remember to do the following on myRPC:
- Upload a picture of your small group
- Update the members of your group to reflect your group's membership
- Take attendance regularly - this is a huge help in letting us know who is actively participating in group life
If you have any questions about using the myRPC application, please contact Mike at miked@rpcstaff.org.
Contact Us
Randy Riggins | Sr. Associate Pastor
Mary Davis | Small Group Associate
Mike Davis | Small Group Associate