The Power of the Individual and Groups

1 Chronicles 12:14

These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host: one of the least was over an hundred, and the greatest over a thousand.

Every man in David’s army was important to them winning the battles they faced. Each of these men had different strengths, but the strength of each man working together allowed them to see great victories. You will notice three groups in the verse above. There are those who followed, those who led an hundred, and those who were over one thousand people. Our mentality is that the one who led one thousand people is the greatest, and to some extent he is, but they all were important to accomplishing the great feats that David and his army accomplished.

No church will thrive without every person understanding their strengths, and not being jealous of the one who may be stronger. No church will grow if we don't understand the individual's importance and involvement in the team as they try to reach the lost for Christ. Let me share a few observations about the importance of individuals and groups within the church.

First, each individual is critical to the Lord’s work. The great need of every generation is laborers. Even Jesus recognized this when he said in Luke 10:2, …The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few…. Every individual has something they can contribute to the Lord’s work. You may not feel that you have much to contribute to the Lord’s work, but you have you, and that is what God needs.

Second, each individual’s strength is critical to the church reaching the lost for Christ. Just because you are not as gifted as another does not minimize your abilities. God makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 12 that every part of the body is important to the church body functioning as it should. The key to this is that the stronger must not feel they are more important than the weaker, and the weaker must not feel they are insignificant to the stronger. They are both important to the church body functioning as God would have it function.

Third, the strengths of individuals will be wasted if they are not organized according to their strengths. Sunday school is where we group people so the church can meet the individual’s needs and grow. One person cannot lead the whole church and see it grow. The way the church grows is by having classes of all sizes. Some classes will only have 5 to 10 people in them, but a few classes will have 20 to 30; however, all the classes are important to meeting the individual's spiritual needs. We don't organize in groups to grow, though it will help us to grow, but we organize in groups to reach the needs of each individual.

Fourth, the key to your church growing is knowing your place and being okay with it. If you are an individual involved in a Sunday school class, you are as important to that class as the teacher who teaches the class of thirty. Every class is made up of individuals, and if the individuals don't show up, there is no class. Therefore, it is critical that you show up so that individuals can help the class grow.

Likewise, teachers must never let their class size cause them to think they are more important or unimportant. Each teacher, no matter what their class size, helps to meet the individual needs in their church, and their pastor needs each teacher to fulfill their duties of teaching so the church can reach more people for Christ.