Why Gospel Multiplication? Part II

Last week we laid out what Gospel Multiplication means for Vintage Church. If you remember we defined Gospel Multiplication in this way: “Vintage Church is committed to our core values of living the Gospel (Truth), loving the city (Love), and being the church (Community) by multiplying individuals, community groups, and gatherings in New Orleans and beyond.” We also discussed how Gospel Multiplication occurs with individuals. This week we are going to unpack what Gospel Multiplication means for community groups.

First, we have to understand what Vintage Church means by community groups. When Vintage Church talks about community groups we mean something very specific. Community groups are intimate groups of people who encourage each other to become more like Jesus. Because of this community groups have three primary goals which include pursuing Christ through our study (Getting in the Word), reflecting Christ through our relationships (Getting to know each other), and serving Christ through our mission (Get Involved). This is what a community group is for Vintage Church.

So why are they important? Despite our culture’s very individualistic identity, the Bible paints a different picture about life. In Acts 2:42-47 is an incredible picture of community in the early church. In this passage we see the church coming together to worship God together, eating together, sharing their possessions with one another, and celebrating salvation together. That is community. We are no different today. We cannot do the Christian life alone. We also cannot just be a part of worship gatherings on a weekend. Although those are important elements of the Christian life, we still need more. We need people who we can learn from, share with, be loved by, and serve with. Not only this, but the people we are in community with need us as much. So are you in a community group? If you are a part of Vintage Church and not in a community group, you are missing the richness of Christian life. You can find more information on Vintage community groups at vintagechurchnola.com/connect/vgroups/.

So why multiply community groups? Vintage Church multiplies community groups for the exact same reason we multiply individuals: to make disciples of all nations. As individuals share the Gospel and multiply it in others’ lives within their community, the new Christians need community to live life and grow in their faith. So as individuals multiply, community groups have to multiply. As groups grow numerically they have to multiply in order to provide room for others to be in community. Groups also need to multiply so that the community group can maintain a size which still allows for close-knit relationships. For community groups to multiply, though, two things have to occur: 1) individuals have to multiply and 2) leaders have to rise up from the community group to lead a new group.

So what do we do from here? Here’s a few questions we can ask ourselves? First, am I in a community group? We cannot fully and successfully live the Christian life without community. Join a community group. Secondly, are we multiplying community groups? The answer to that question is yes, but we need to multiply more groups as more and more people come to Vintage Church and more and more people become Christians. In order to multiply community groups we also need more leaders, which leads us to our next question. Do I have a passion to lead a community group? Has God called you to lead others? Has he given you a passion to lead and love others. If so join a community group and begin to learn and get equipped from your community group leader.

Jesus has called us to make disciples and so Vintage Church is going to do that by multiplying community group.

Next week we’ll conclude our discussion on Gospel Multiplication by discussing what Gospel Multiplication means for gatherings.