The Band Meeting: Deeper Discipleship
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Discipleship: The Minimum Social Requirement
In my last blog post I discussed Kevin Watson’s book The Class Meeting. You can find that post here. The Class Meeting was only one type of group that Wesley established that empowered the early Methodist movement. The Class Meeting was required of everyone who participated the Methodist Societies. If you didn’t attend your Class Meeting with the agreed upon regularity, you did not get your ticket to Society Meetings. (Yes, that’s right, you had to attend a small group to earn your ticket to the worship services).
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Discipleship: Going Deeper
Many people, perhaps most people, have areas of their lives that they try to keep hidden from others, from God, and maybe even themselves. These are frequently related to experiences of deep vulnerability that create in us a sense of guilt and shame. The truth is that God wants to forgive us and for us to experience the joy of salvation at the very core of who we are. God wants to release us from our guilt and shame. He wants to fully restore the image of Christ within us. But He is only able to do that when we give these vulnerabilities to Him. He is only able to do this when we confess our hidden sins and cast our deepest anxieties on Him.
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Watson has co-authored a book with Scott Kisker titled The Band Meeting: rediscovering relational discipleship in transformational community. In this book Watson and Kisker describe a type of meeting called the Band Meeting which is the primary method used by Wesley to aid people in allowing God to work deeply in their lives. They described Band Meetings as “a small group that helps people connect well with God and others. In these groups, historically, people confessed sin to each other in order to grow in holiness. They named the places of deepest brokenness, where they found that sin was in control of them and they were, in the own striving, powerless over it. The vast majority of Christians have actively avoided these kinds of conversations because they disrupt efforts to convince ourselves, and those around us, that we have everything under control.”
The Possibility of Restoration
Band Meetings have the potential to repair what has been broken. Genesis 1:27 tells us that human beings were made in God image. Unfortunately, the Bible is replete with examples of how that image has been damaged, broken, and destroyed beyond all recognition. Equally unfortunately, there is ample evidence of humanity’s rebellion against God in our own day, and in our own lives, as well.
God’s desire is that we live an abundant life, but sin significantly curtails our ability to do so. In fact, though we may live in closer proximity to the abundant life that God intended at creation as we beocme more mature in Christ, it is impossible to remain untouched by the sin of the fallen world in which we live.
But God’s desire is to restore all things. God’s desire is that we live an abundant life in Christ, and thus, allow Him to restore His image in us. Band Meetings are a means of grace, an environment in which we can deliberately and courageously, allow God to do His work of reconciliation and restoration in and through us.
Deeper Connection
Band Meetings, when properly conducted, not only foster a deeper relationship with our Creator and Redeemer, they also foster godly, life-giving relationships among participants that are unlike any other we have in our lives. When we confess our sin to another we become vulnerable to them. We frequently avoid this kind of vulnerability because we are afraid. We would rather suffer with our sin than risk healing. We would rather allow our sin to alienate us from authentic relationships than risk restoration. BUT, when we are vulnerable and confess our sins to another and we receive grace and acceptance, we are freed to live the abundant life we never thought possible, that we never dared to imagine.
Band Meetings require vulnerability and courage. Band Meetings require that we risk in order to receive the reward of forgiveness and healing. As you are reading this, some of you are thinking to yourself, “There is no way I would ever confess my sins to another person.” In my years of practicing psychotherapy, I learned that the direction we fear going is most frequently the direction of our greatest growth.
Looking Ahead
In my next blog post, I will discuss how we are implementing Band Meetings, which we are calling LIFE Transformation Groups (LTGs) at Ocoee Oaks. If you’d like to know more about Watson and Sisker’s approach to the Band Meeting, click on the link above.
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