Growing Together

Pastor Pat takes a break from the Matthew series to explain why we do what we do as a church. He opens with a question: what is the biggest factor in a long, healthy life? Keto, vegan, carnivore, grip strength and weighted vests all get a mention. Then he points to a Harvard study that followed two groups for 85 years. Satisfaction with relationships at age 50 predicted health at 80 better than cholesterol, and loneliness was as harmful as smoking. “Unfortunately, your faith and my faith is a group project.”

We tend to grow by learning more, which he calls left-brain growth. But identity, belonging and attachment are formed in relationship. “Information fills the mind but relationship forms the soul.” Jesus summed it up as loving God and loving our neighbor.

In Ephesians, Paul writes to a church of Jewish believers and pagan Gentiles who now belong to one family. In chapter 4, Christ gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip his people. Pastor Pat explains that the Greek word for equipping was used for setting a dislocated joint and mending a torn net. Equipping is more than another class or podcast. In community, God resets what is broken so we can function in the body. Maturity is a group achievement, and Jesus is the picture of it. He connects this to the church’s vision: every heart, every home alive in Christ.

Mature believers aren’t tossed around by every wind of teaching, and they speak the truth in love. That means no lying and dealing with conflict before the sun goes down, so the enemy has no room to sow discord. Drawing on the book The Other Half of Church, he names four marks of a community that changes people: joy, chesed or covenant love that doesn’t cancel you, a shared identity, and healthy correction. He says his own directional team asks him hard questions, and he needs it. Resetting a dislocated finger hurts, and “if you’re waiting for it to be easy, you’re waiting forever.”

In verse 16 the body is held together by its ligaments, and “you cannot be a functioning joint in the body you are not connected to.” Life groups and Growth Track are imperfect tools, but they are how we stay connected. Two members share how a life group friend brought peace after a loss and how Growth Track helped one find his identity in Christ. Pastor Pat closes by inviting anyone disconnected to ask Jesus to reset them and reconnect them to his people.