Circles are BETTER than Rows!

I have had this conviction for a long time.  It is growing more and more stronger in recent years.   CIRCLES ARE BETTER THAN ROWS!

That is the way Andy Stanley says it.  In a podcast I listened to today, he said it again.  And he went on to say this, talking about his 31,000 member church that meets in 5 locations in the Atlanta (the 2nd largest in the US)..."We are famous for our rows, but the strength of our churches is our circles."

I totally agree!   The strength of any church is in it's circles.   One of the goals that I and some others at Community of Joy are praying about is the development of more circles - specifically Bible Study circles.   I now have a method that is tested in multi- age groups and over a long time that produces life- transformation in participants lives.  I call it the 5 Q Method of Bible Study.  It is powerful when used in a circle of people with a sprinkle of prayer before and after the study.

I see strong evidence of this reality every Tuesday and Thursday night.   And soon I hope on other nights in other settings.

Recently I had a friend in the Thursday community Men's group that I lead who was struggling... he was at a real low point and had been away from the group for several weeks.  Last week, he came back to our group and found such energy and strength that this week he was in rare form... and he is back on a path of climbing rather than spiraling downward!!   Our men's group has experienced such power in this circle of Bible Study, prayer, accountability and support that we are in the process of writing a book.   God has done and is doing some amazing things in the lives of the men and their families that we want to give testimony to it!  So stay tuned!  

At the end of the day, circles are better than rows... any day!