*This post is the third part of “Is joining a small group a waste of time?” series, aiming to help answers questions and concerns regarding joining a small group.
In the first post, we looked at what small group is (or supposed to be). If you have a church that you attend regularly, whether you are a Christian or not, chances are that church is encouraging you to join a small group of some kind. They may call it small groups, cell groups, fellowship groups, community groups, home groups, etc. For the purpose of this post, I will use a generic term: small group.
In the second post, we looked at the question of whether one should still join a small group when one thinks that he/she is doing ok spiritually. We learned that sharing life closely with a group of people will help us to be aware of the growing-up that we need to do as Christians. Until you rub shoulders with other sinners (you are one of them, mind you), you will never know how selfish, impatient, unkind, greedy, and unhelpful you are. If you say that you will never want to mingle with people who are immature, then look who’s talking. Interestingly, and somehow God designs this to be, the same group of people that irritate you will end up to be the people who encourage you to keep growing in God. In the process, you grow to trust God more, love Him more, and consequently, love others more.
However, there is one fear that people have with regards to joining a small group. In fact, just last Sunday, a friend of mine mentioned to me that he was considering joining a small group but he said that he is not an open kind of guy. He is reserved. Another friend, on a separate occasion, also told me that he does not like the idea of opening up himself to a group of people.