Come Early, Stay Late

The Church was never intended to be about some person propagating their ideas and passions while everyone else sits by. That is not God. His ways are all-inclusive. Everybody has a part. Everybody has a job, a responsibility, an importance in his Kingdom. And when we can finally agree with that, and adjust who we are to that, life takes on a whole different depth, a whole different value, and a whole different meaning. </p>

There are so many dynamics and intricacies in life. So many tangible, practical phenomena that can bring instruction and direction, healing and health, richness and depth of relationship. All this can happen in a healthy small group in someone’s living room that never could and never does happen on a Sunday morning…<br>

I was six months old in the Lord when the leader of the small group we were attending asked me to take over the leadership of the group. He was not leaving. He saw something in me not yet recognized: the spiritual gifts of leadership, teaching, and preaching. He was simply healthy enough to not have to lead. That was over 40 years ago. I have been building, leading, multiplying, and investing into small groups ever since. This book is that story. <br>

A few years later, we were invited to take on the leadership of a singles group. We knew nothing about developing small group ministry. It was quite an adventure! One of the questions we asked each other was, “Why would a few single folks want a married couple as leaders?” We quickly learned the answer to that question. <br>

We led that group for several years and enjoyed some delightful relationships with all who came and went. The learning curve was steep in the early days. Holy Spirit proved himself faithful, even in the midst of my many shortcomings, as week after week he taught me about the many dynamics of leading a small group. Often, he would give instruction much different than I was intending. From this I learned to listen. From that I learned to follow his lead. <br>

We have spent much of our time in ministry involved in small groups, building people, and multiplying groups. This book is the story of the many things the Lord has taught us through those groups. It is amazing, the goodness, patience, and faithfulness of our Lord. So many lives formed and transformed. <br>

As we developed understanding and formulated strategies for the implementation of all we were learning, I found myself making a particular statement. I started saying, “Come early, stay late,” as a way of expressing my heart for the rendezvous with others. I was saying, “The door is open, to my home, to my heart.” I was asking people to open up; to engage with me, and me them, and together with the Lord. Because that is why we are created. Thus, the title of this book. <br>

When we came to the place of fluidity in relationships our hearts opened. We caught it! We came to understand why Jesus called the love for God and those all around us the greatest commandment. It is where he is found, where he dwells. His heart aches for this. Where two or more are gathered, he is in their midst. This is what small group ministry is all about. <br>

It is my hope and prayer that you too will capture and be captured by the beauty of relationships discovered and developed in the midst of this journey. It is in this context that I have found my Lord to be ever gentle, ever kind, never wavering in his love. I have found him trusting me way beyond where it was safe to do so, because he loves me and has great confidence in me. I have found his love to be beyond measure, his patience never-ending, his grace and mercy totally overwhelming. He never stops giving and loving. His love is way beyond my ability to capture, to embrace, to emulate. But I will spend the rest of my days trying to imprison and be imprisoned by it, and simply to receive and walk in it. <br>

The folks in that single’s group took us on for one reason. They were not able to clearly define it early on, but it was evident. They were looking for an adventure, a journey we could all walk together. They were crying out for relationship. With Jesus. With us. With each other and those all around. We all want and need strong, healthy, Christ-centered, interactive, inter-dependent relationships. We have been created with the same ache for relationship the Lord has.<br>

I am writing this book for two reasons. One has to do with the burden to disciple those who know Jesus and help them give what they have away to others - so that they too may get the message, the truth of Jesus, and live it out. The other reason has all to do with helping leaders, at any level, to make the shift, the transition, to the New Testament pattern of ministry, which is clearly small group ministry. <br>

This book is about house churches, we call them Home Gatherings. It’s about small groups, about effective and life-giving leadership and ministry in that context. But it is also about helping good people who are stuck in a system they did not create. They just got stuck in it somewhere along the way. And now they don’t know what they are, where they are, and most of all, who they are. I get it because I’ve been through it. I thought it was the right way. I was taught it was the right way. This is why I am so burdened. There are answers, from Scripture, the Teacher, the Counselor. There are solutions. And yet, the problem not only remains but seems to continue to worsen. <br>

Let’s change that. <br>

Let’s figure out how to get much closer to the Creator and align with him as he changes that. <br>