A Place To Belong – Society Meetings
Christianity is a social religion, says John Wesley. There is no real Christianity if it is not lived in community – that becomes a shadow of the real thing only.
Wesley was a master organiser – some say the real strength of the Methodist movement, more than anything else, was actually John's ability to organise. He kept meticulous records and put together groups in which the Methodist people should gather – and the biggest of these groups were called societies. They were much like what we today would call a church – a group of Christians that gather together regularly to worship, pray, hear the Word and fellowship. In fact in the Methodist Church of South Africa today, organised churches are still called societies.
The Danger of Preaching Without Community
This was so important to Wesley. Listen to what he writes in "A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists": "I was convinced much more than ever, that the preaching like an Apostle, without joining together those that are awakened, and training them up in the ways of God, is only begetting children for the murderer. How much preaching has there been for these twenty years all over England! But no regular societies, no discipline, no order or connection; and the consequence is, that nine in ten of the once-awakened are now faster asleep than ever."
Interesting. Without a society to belong to and connect with, even the best preaching only results in Christians who are fast asleep in their faith.
The Early Church Model
Perhaps this is why we read in Acts 2:42 that the early Christians "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Consider this friends: are you devoted to hearing the teaching of God's Word from a trained minister? Are you devoted to fellowship? Devoted to prayer and the sacrament of breaking bread in remembrance of Jesus?
For the early Methodists these things weren't optional parts of their week. They were essentials. Going to your society meeting was expected of the people called Methodists – and interestingly, Methodism wasn't even a denomination back then, so Methodists were actually Anglicans who were encouraged to go to their Anglican church services and their society meetings.
This Lent we have gone inward a lot, looking at the state of our own hearts and the possibilities for our own Christian lives, but let us not forget that true Christian living is being devoted to fellowship.
May you find your 'society', your place to belong, and may you commit to that society week in and week out. With the help and accountability of a society, you'll be far better equipped to prevent falling asleep in your Christian life.
