Friendship Groups

FRIENDSHIPS ROOTED IN CHRIST

At Broken Door Ministry we try to encourage all Christians to form and sustain small Christ Centered Friendship Groups that meet every week. We all love to have good friends. Many friendship are formed around common interests like hobbies, sports, neighborhoods, work, and alumni groups. What makes Christian friendship groups unique is the shared interest in the love for Jesus Christ.

The paralytic in Luke’s Gospel needed the help of others to carry him us to Jesus. Sometimes we need our friends to carry us to Jesus and sometimes we need to carry them.

  • Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure.
  • Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth.
  • Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us:

“Two are better than one: They get a good wage for their toil. If the one falls, the other will help the fallen one. But woe to the solitary person! If that one should fall, there is no other to help. So also, if two sleep together, they keep each other warm. How can one alone keep warm? Where one alone may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord* is not easily broken.”

THE LORD’S SUPPER

Matthew 26:26 tells us that at the last supper, Jesus did four things with the bread. He chose a piece of bread.  Jesus. He blessed the bread, broke it and shared the bread with His friends.

In a similar fashion we have been chosen by God, blessed by Him and sadly we are broken. Now the decision we must make is this. Are we willing to share our life so as to be communion to a world starving for the good news of Jesus Christ.? Even in our broken condition, by sharing ourselves in community, we can bring others to Christ.

KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL GROUP

  • Meet every week at the same time.
  • Use the Christ-Centered Friendship Trifold as your weekly guide.
  • Try not to stray from the discussion topics.
  • Allow a few minutes for each person to share their experience during the past week in regard to the topic BLESSED first. Next allow each person to address their BROKEN experiences for the week. Finally allow each person to address the topic of SHARED.
  • Be respectful of your allotted time. Generally, each person only has 3-5. minutes to share on each topic if you want to keep the meeting to 1 hour
  • Limit your reply to what others say. This is not a time for discussion. It is an opportunity for each person to share their week’s experiences.
  • Keep the group time limited to 1-1.5 hours.
  • The ideal group size is 3-6 people.
  • Be open to new members.
  • Break the group into smaller groups if it grows too large.
  • Help others to start new groups.
  • Attend your group even on those days when you don’t want to go or feel you have nothing to share.
  • What is shared in a group stays in a group. Confidentiality is of utmost importance.
  • Never lose sight of the objective. The goal is to build FRIENDSHIPS rooted in our common love for Jesus Christ. Don’t allow following the mechanics of the meeting to become the goal. Friendship is the goal.

The Weekly Format

Opening Prayer

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

BLESSED

  • In what way did you most experience God’s blessing in your life this week?
  • Did God reveal anything to you this week about Him that you never knew before?
  • Did God reveal anything to you this week about yourself that you never knew before?

BROKEN

  • What obstacles and/or sins did you encounter in your life this week that clouded your relationship with God or kept you from being the disciple that you are called to be?
  • Did you miss any opportunities to share Christ with someone this week?

SHARED

  • What have you learned from your own blessings and brokenness this week that through honest sharing with others you can draw them closer to Christ?
  • How were you an encourager this week to someone who was lost, hurt or broken?

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Heavenly Father help me to be the door, no matter how broken I might be, through which others can enter to encounter Christ.

Resources