Have you ever noticed how many glum Christians there are? It seems that discovering the Good News has been bad for more than a few people. Perhaps it’s because a po-faced disposition is seen to be evidence of a deep religiosity? Who said the Puritans had died out? They’re everywhere, including in our home groups. I ask home group leaders a question which I think is crucial: “where’s the joy?”.

Forgive me if you think I am too harsh but I seem to notice a lot of glumness. As home group leaders we can banish the gloom and turn up the joy. Some questions for home group leaders to ponder:

• What is the ‘joy of the Lord?’, and do you have it in your group?
• Are you as the architect of your group experiences helping to make space for laughter, humour, and joy?
• Is a by-product of your time together in fellowship, and gathered around the Word and in prayer a deep sense of joy?
• Are YOU way too serious?

Too many Christians take too many things way too seriously. I remember that at my Bible College we had to wear collar and tie to lectures and girls had to wear skirts [trousers were banned for girls, especially jeans]. I led a student revolt against this ridiculous rule and my viewpoint was resisted by staff and about 40% of the student body. The leader of the collar and tie brigade explained in a student debate that skirts for girls and collar and tie for guys “denoted an attitude of seriousness about the study of God’s Word”. Well for me I don’t care what you wear when you study God’s Word, I care that you do it, and that it has a visible, discernible effect on you. Part of the effect is hopefully that you will become a joy-filled person. Furrowed brows are not the outward signs of the Spirit. Usually smiles are. Get your group smiling!

I think home group leaders need to think about this a lot. I didn’t sign up to follow Jesus to be glum, I signed up to escape depression and emptiness. I signed up cos Jesus said He would give me ‘life, life in all its fullness’. Here’s the rub: I think home group leaders are part of Jesus’ plan to give us ‘life in all its fullness’. I find that much of that fullness is something that is imparted to me when I am in a corporate setting in the body of Christ, rather than an individual thing.

Sure God speaks to me and does stuff in my life as an individual but He blesses me in the company of His children. You as a leader can make a big difference to the joy differential by the setting an environment that is conducive to these experiences.

Do people experience joy in your home group and how?

Do you often hear laughter?

Are you happy?

Do you have ‘the joy of the Lord?’

Can you explain in a nutshell what the ‘joy of the Lord’ is?

Do you experience the ‘joy of the Lord’?

Have fun.