A Higher Calling

I was reading through the updated bio of Brother Maynard this morning, and the following comment struck me as being especially significant:

" I still consider leadership of a small group to be among the highest possible callings in the local church."

Many times, I have thought that the church would be radically different if we had more people who felt called to lead small groups, instead of people who feel called to do big meetings.

As a worship leader and musician, I enjoy the big stage. There's something very powerful about being in a large gathering of worshippers, especially those times where it's a multi-church gathering. The first time I played in a "March For Jesus" band, in Victoria BC (1993), I was overwhelmed to see literally thousands of people marching onto the grounds at the Parliament buildings, worshipping God.

And when I've had the opportunity to play at youth conferences, I've always been moved by the sight of so many of the emerging generations who are hungry to meet with God.

But at the same time, I really, really love leading worship in a home group. Most of the home groups we've led have been with youth and young adults, and "small" was a relative term. We regularly crammed 40+ teenagers and university students into our living room in Winnipeg and still called it a small group -- mainly because the room was small and we had to move our chairs out every week so there was enough room on the floor (the couch was hotly coveted and may have contributed to people arriving early to hang out).

The home groups were great because we had the capacity to really connect with others, as the group would mingle and flow from the living room to the kitchen to the front porch, and because there weren't the usual church constraints that would force us to "finish on time" or keep things on a schedule. Praying for each other was an awesome time of seeing pastoral care and spiritual gifts being used by many people, some of whom discovered their gifts for the first time in these settings.

And I shouldn't forget the community that is developed through sharing meals together. We have always designated one meeting per month to be "party night", where everyone brought food to share with the rest of the group, and these times usually morphed into extended worship and prayer times as well. We usually didn't tell people what to bring, until that infamous night where over 40 people showed up bringing one of two items: buns or ice cream. It became one of our favourite home group legends -- "hey, remember that night..." These gatherings evolved into the "Worship Jam" style that we have pursued since the mid-90's.

I think Brother Maynard has it right -- home group leadership, and home group worship leadership, is the highest calling. It's also the place where I've seen the greatest blessing, the greatest spiritual growth, and the greatest community. Not to forget the greatest place for sharing stories, and writing new ones together.