Knit.

A couple of weeks ago we gathered with our small group, as we do every Sunday. We ate a little barbecue and played a little Taboo and spent a little time in prayer for one another, and somewhere through the course of the evening it hit me:

We’re knit together.

I know small groups sometimes get a bad rap*: strange people! Boring discussions! I just sat in cat pee! And yes, there are groups that perhaps deserve that reputation. And yes, there are strange people in my small group (I refer to myself as Exhibit A).

But I love my group. I love it not just for the spiritual growth that happens each week from 5:30 to 7:30. I love it because we’re family.

Our group is incredibly diverse. We have a girl who was born in India, a guy born in Nigeria, a lady born in the Philippines. We have grandparents, an engaged couple, and single people. We have attorneys and hourly wage earners. We have couples with no kids and couples with four kids.

And yet we’re family.

Merriem and I don’t have biological family close by. Both of our families are 600 miles away. But our small group family? They’re ours. We play together. Pray together. Go out to eat together. Celebrate birthdays together.

We do life together.

I say this all the time in Starting Point: if you have no intention of joining a small group, you need to run, not walk, to a much much smaller church. It will only be a matter of time before you feel lost, marginalized, forgotten, uncared for. You simply can’t do community in a crowd. Come out of the crowd and find your family.

Wanna know more? If you attend the Summit, check out the small groups kiosk at your campus this weekend!

*More importantly, is it “rap” or “rep”? “Rep” should be short for “reputation,” right? But “rap” sounds so much more accurate.