I love small group ministry. I think it is a vital part of any healthy church, but I also think that small groups can sometimes be unhealthy. This is another topic I have heard about and read about lately. Mars Hill pastor and Director of Community, Brad House has written a much needed book that deals in this area entitled “Community: Taking Your Small Group Off Life Support.” I am a lot newer to this whole deal with small groups than he is so I would suggest you give it a read. I have only read a few pages so far, but I like what I see.

But, I will blog more on small groups and mission at a later date. In this blog I would actually like to talk about what we have been studying in our small group.

Last week we began a new study with a new small group with a new mission in mind. We want to be more mission-focused and to kick off this new group we have started a study by Pastor Timothy Keller called “Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything.” The first session was about the City (The World That Is) and we looked at a well-known passage in the Old Testament. Well, maybe not a well-known passage but a passage that contains a well-known verse and a verse that I believe is many times taken out of context.

So, what is this verse you ask? Here it is:

    For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11)

That’s right, Jeremiah 29:11. In the words of Matt Chandler, this is one of those coffee cup verses. You probably have a coffee cup with this verse on it, or a plaque, or a bookmark. It’s just one of those verses.

The coolest part of our study was looking at the verses that come before that famous one. These verses put verse 11 into context. The Israelites had been taken captive into a foreign city (Babylon) and they had a few different ways they could go, but God called them to move into the city and to keep their spiritual identity.

Sometimes we see believers get so involved in culture that they lose their spiritual identity and that can lead us to think that we should stay out of culture altogether, but God says we can do both and He actually calls the Israelite captives to do just that. This is why I love verse 7, because verse 11 doesn’t make sense without it. After God tells them to build houses, plant gardens, and start families in verses 5-6, He tells them this through the prophet Jeremiah:

    But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
(Jeremiah 29:7 ESV)

God tells them to seek the “shalom” (peace & prosperity) of the city and to serve and love their new place of residence and He says they can do this without losing their spiritual identity or distinctiveness.

If the gospel has truly transformed our hearts, we need to be people for the city. Keller says as we work the gospel out into the city, we work it into our hearts.

God loves people and God loves cities. We should too!

Some questions Tim Keller poses in the video:

• Are you living for your City?
• Are you praying for your City?
• Are you rooting for your City?