Worship Is not Enough

Worship is not enough.

Even good worship. Even the best worship. It’s not enough to develop you into a fully mature person of God. It wasn’t meant to.

That’s because worship is primarily a vertical connection. It connects us to God. While we do this with others—we sing together, greet one another, and pray for people—our primary aim is to praise God and hear from his Word.

You need more. We all do. We are created to have meaningful relationships with each other. As believers in Christ, this is not just a nice idea; it's necessary for our survival. As John Wesley put it, “There is no such thing as a solitary Christian.”

You need a smaller group of people that you can see face to face, hear the questions they ask about Scripture, pray for individuals by name. A place where you can talk. Listen. Pray. Grow. Small groups (or Bible studies, Sunday school classes, accountability partners, etc.) major on the horizontal dimension in our lives. They offer a place to grow spiritually in the context of meaningful relationships

Worship and small groups. Vertical and horizontal. God and others. You need both.

Where do you get your "horizontal" faith connection?