Friendship Centre………The Real Connection
Friendship Centres, are practically where much of the theology taught on our pulpits begins to be fleshed out in conversation and action. It’s a mission-based platform, where people are taught and equipped to handle their day to day life’s issues without being spooky. This oftentimes challenges believers and new believers to be fruitful as they become aware of their God ordained purpose.
Friendship Centres, help to develop a greater sense of Christian community in a disconnected age. These obviously facilitate the formation of deeper Christian friendships, encourage greater spiritual accountability among church members, and become a natural opportunity for inviting unbelieving and unchurched (or under-churched) neighbours to interact with a covenant community.
It’s a platform where the Church as a body no matter how large it is, experiences the kind of closeness that will characterize the life of the redeemed in the age to come.
Below are six critical success factors that form the basis of Friendship Centre:
1. Discipleship and Personal Discovery: – Friendship Centre is a community of believers that provide opportunities to learn from each other as they apply the gospel within the intimacy of relationships.
2. Curiosity and adept study of God’s word: – At Friendship Centres we meet to discuss and apply Scripture with a well-designed and guided outline. Of course, members can learn to understand not only the Bible, but also each other, so that each will know better how to love the other.
3. Accountability and Shepherding: – When we think about church accountability, we are right to think about elders (Titus 1:5–9). But elders should first equip God’s people to work out their problems together. Every member should encourage and gently urge their brothers and sisters to better follow the Lord.
4. Community Projects and Evangelism: – If we fervently believe in the power of the means of grace—that God works his grace through the official proclamation of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments—we should desire that the “uninformed” and “unbelievers” be present in corporate worship so that they too will worship God as they sense his presence.
5. Socializing and Hospitality: – Fellowship is not a spiritually-neutral activity. As we catch up with friends and make new ones, we practice our calling to understand and love each other. As we share and listen to stories, we learn how others are attempting to intersect the common life and the sacred life.
6. Prayer and Commitment: – In Friendship Centres, children and parents, neighbours and friends, elders and new converts help each other come to the throne of grace, articulating their praise and petitions in personalized words and accents. In such settings, we can learn to pray even as we appreciate the universal fatherhood of God among believers.
Through the Friendship Center we demonstrate practical Christian care with a human touch while creating a wonderful atmosphere where friendship bonds are cultivated and nurtured, individuals are discipled to Christ-like maturity, and most importantly, where individual spiritual gifts can be fully developed and expressed.