7 Reasons why Christians should be in a group:

1. Church attendance is a group. The core of the church is the gathered body not a fractioned part of the whole. We must not forsake gathering with the local church and submitting ourselves to one another (Acts 2:42-47; Hebrews 10:24-27; Ephesians 4:1-16; Hebrews 13:17).
   
2. Jesus gathered in a group. The majority of His public ministry was spent among the disciples (Mark 3:14). One of the ways we can be more like Jesus is by being in a group of those who are also intentionally committed to follow Jesus.  
   
3. Groups authenticate externally what God has started internally. We cannot obey the one-anothers in isolation. Obedience to all that God has called us to be and do must be lived in community of other Christ-followers. Groups help us to take a next step of commitment to God and the spiritual growth that happens with other believers. Summed up in a word: accountability.
   
4. Groups increase our education and experience. No one has all the answers but God’s word. Regardless of where you are in the spiritual journey, we can learn from one another. Further, God gives each person gifts and experiences that we can all benefit to sharpen one another (Proverbs 27:17, 19). The aim is not mere program participation but maturity in Christ, where each person and family flourish in love for the Lord and one another. The micro-expressions of small groups and the macro-culture of the church will have synergetic influence toward making disciples, developing leaders, and growing godly generations.
   
5. Groups facilitate friendship and shepherding care. Being in a group helps you to know others and be known by others. Just as Jesus lived among a group of people, and Paul lived among believers (Acts 20:18; 1 Thessalonians 2:8), so we are able cultivate community and care for one another. Spiritual community is not discovered but developed; it takes investments of time and actions of support. We must remember that friendship and fellowship are not morality neutral but spiritually important and sacred. In a disconnected age, spiritual community gives us a place to believe and belong. Further, when members of a group are hospitable to connect and care for one another, it becomes a contagious dynamic that God uses to draw others to Himself.
   
6. Groups mobilize us to God’s mission. Jesus’s Great Commission was not given to individuals but to the disciples, and all believers. The early church is a testament to the power of plurality with gathered believers, mission partners, and elder teams. When God’s people focused on gospel unity and missional urgency, the lost were saved, the kingdom expanded, and satan thwarted. The church should continue its aim to depopulate hell and fill heaven.
   
7. Groups help us to pray. The early church functioned in harmony not because they were all alike and got along, but because they aligned their agenda to the Holy Spirit. When God’s people prayed, places were shaken, people were healed, problems were solved, challenges were overcome, sickness were healed, struggles were delivered, and God’s power was displayed. We learn to pray best by being in God’s word and being with other believers who cry out and call upon the Heavenly Father.