Bonus Post #7 – Get Sharing & Support Groups Started
While the experience of authentic community through small
groups may be rare, and rather simple to create, we are left with this
question: How do we get them started?
Usually, it takes one person contacting another person with
an invitation to join a sharing and support group. For example, distinguished
pastor and preacher John Claypool recounts how a colleague invited him to join
a sharing group:
He was in real personal anguish, he said, and he asked the
question: “Where does a pastor go for pastoral care? We are so busy helping
other people. Where do we turn when our needs become overwhelming?”
“At any rate,” he continued, “I am calling five of you whom
I trust with this request. Would you agree to meet with me in my study once a
week for six times? The only contract will be that we will try to be honest and
hear each other. Perhaps we can develop enough trust so that we can take off
our masks and show each other where we really hurt. . . .I do not know if this
will work, but if it does not, I’ll go under for sure?”
Claypool reflects:
I
was frankly startled when that conversation was over, because I had only known
this man from a distance, and he appeared to be “so together” that I could
never have dreamed in a thousand years that he was struggling. . . .So the next
morning I went to that man’s study and touched for the first time in my life an
experience of genuine koinonia. I was absolutely astonished by what
began to unfold before my eyes. For one thing, I discovered that every one of
us around that table was struggling with much the same problems.
Claypool
concludes:
We
were all so much more alike than I had realized. Then to, I was amazed to see
that in that context honesty evoked compassion. . . .Instead of being condemned
or exploited, I found all kinds of insight and concern.[1]
Early in my
campus ministry I felt the need to connect with other helping professionals. So
I phoned another campus minister, a parish pastor, and a nurse. I told them I
was in dire need of people to listen to my concerns, help me gain perspective,
and pray for me. Each of them had similar needs with no prospect of help.
I took the
initiative and scheduled our first support group meeting, and for the next two
years we met weekly with one another for the care, support, and prayer we all
needed.
In each of the
places I’ve lived since that time, I’ve taken similar initiative for similar
reasons with similar results. I know that I would not have succeeded in my
personal or professional life without participating in sharing and support
groups. It’s just that central to my survival and well-being. In fact, it’s the
most important thing I’ve done in my life over the years!
(495 words)
