Getting Involved
First Baptist Church is intentionally organized into three types of groupings designed to promote spiritual growth among its members. As a person involves themselves in each of these growth environments, they will be helped to develop a more intimate love relationship with God as well as with their brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Foyer
Our worship services might be seen as being like the foyer to your house. A foyer is the place where you first meet others and get acquainted, but if you are going to develop a deeper relationship, you will need to move beyond the foyer to the living room, where you can visit and get to know each other better.
The Living Room
Our Bible Fellowships are intended to be like the living room in your home. When you move to the living room, you can sit down and get to know each other a little better. At this level of participation, a person can move beyond making acquaintances to developing friendships.
But God intends for His church to be more than a group of friends, He intends His church to be a family - the family of God! Therefore, it is important that relationships among believers be helped to grow even deeper.
Our Growth Group ministry is intended to be like the kitchen in your home. The place where the family gathers to discuss life and share joys and sorrows with one another. These small groups are commonly called "cells" because, just like the cell is the most basic unit of the human body, these small groups are the most basic unit in the body of Christ. At this level, folks move beyond making acquaintances and developing friendships to experiencing family.
This is the level of interaction where the commands in the "one another" passages of the Bible can be carried out. This is the level of interaction with others that best promotes accountability and encourages spiritual growth.
Some folks are uncomfortable with the intimacy of a small group, so these groups don't always form spontaneously. That's why our church has Growth Groups. Through our Growth Group ministry, we intentionally encourage the formation of small groups.
Most people, once they have gotten involved in a Growth Group, find it to be a tremendous blessing. When a person participates in a Growth Group, you have moved beyond the foyer and the living room to the kitchen, where best friends open up to one another and discuss their lives in a warm, caring, and safe atmosphere.
God is pleased when His people live in interdependent connectedness with one another. The biblical principle here is that we are to share our lives together - that is the biblical meaning of fellowship (koinonia). We all belong to one another in the Body of Christ (Philippians 2:3-5). We are not to neglect overlapping our lives and interdependently meeting together to encourage each other (Hebrews 10:24-25). Commitment to connectedness is essential to growth in the Christian life!
At First Baptist Church, we believe that involvement in these three environments is essential to the healthy development of every Christian's walk with God. The quality of our relationship with the Father is connected to the quality of our relationship with His family! For this reason, every member of our church is strongly encouraged to participate weekly in a Worship Service, a Bible Fellowship, and a Growth Group.
