Welcome to the Victory Blog

When we started Victory, one of our goals was “to turn people into believers and believers into disciples.” We have tried to set up in our church a means to help people move through this process. That means is found in small groups, or as we call them, V•Groups. In fact, it is only in the context of a small group that we can or will truly become disciples: moving from a basic acquaintance with the reality of Christ, to a growing trust in God, which will then lead us to serve others and, ultimately, to share our life with others in total abandonment to Christ - doing church daily - getting church outside the walls.

In Acts 2, we see that the lives of thousands of people were transformed into lives of simplicity, sincerity and sacrifice; a transformation which mightily impacted the community around them. Notice that the transformation didn’t happen in the large, formal gathering at the temple, but as they met day to day in small groups in their homes.

Although we like to believe transformation takes place in our church services, the reality is that only limited transformation takes place in large meetings. Our weekend services are NOT what community looks like. Rather, doing life together outside the four walls of the church building is what community looks like. How do we do that? We have to get into small groups. And, in case you’re still not convinced, here are more reasons why it’s important to be in a small group:

1. Pastoral Care - One person can only care effectively for so many people. In any church with more than about 50 people, the only way anyone can have adequate pastoral care is if the church is broken down into small groups.
2. Learning to Love - God wants to put us into environments where we will learn how to love. Small groups are the perfect environment to learn how to work through the difficulties of relationship - to exercise our love.
3. Discipleship - Jesus commanded us to make disciples - not just believers. In order to become disciples, people need a safe, small group environment where they can talk through life’s issues and how God’s Word applies to them.
4. Sharing our Gifts Together - God has given all of us gifts with which we are to minister to others. Small groups are a safe place to learn how to operate in our gifts and minister to others. Large corporate gatherings just can’t offer this opportunity.
5. Accountability - The small group is where God starts the accountability process. It is a safe place to bring everything to the light, to confess sins and to receive ministry.
6. Sharing Life Together - We weren’t meant to do life independently. If we are not sharing our lives with others we cannot be healthy, let alone become all God created us to be. We need to share our lives with others.
7. Effective Community Outreach - We’ve got to take the church outside the walls. There are so many needs in our community; we have to break them down into bite-sized pieces. We can most effectively do this through small groups. (As with UNITE! Compassion in Action Weekend.)

As you can see, being in a small group is not only valuable, it is an essential part of the Christian life. You simply will not experience the life God intends for you to have without the authentic relationships found in a small group. So, if you haven’t joined a V•Group yet, I encourage you to do so this week. Don’t wait any longer. You already know what community looks like and why it’s so important. Now it’s time to act on that knowledge and become a church without walls.