5 – Becoming Three Dimensional

We’ll call a group “three dimensional” when it gives people the opportunity to love, serve, and grow. Groups in churches tend to be one or two dimensional. In this chapter, we want to think about how to stretch a little to become three dimensional.
Bob likes to lead a Bible study. He gets together each week with six or seven others to study the Bible. Everyone in the group thinks Bob is a great teacher and they also feel free to say what they think about what they study. If someone quits coming to the study, no one makes it a point to contact them. If someone in the group gets sick enough to go to the hospital, someone in the group might call the pastor to ask him to visit the hospital. This group has never done anything together to serve others. Bob feels that he is serving because he is leading the Bible study and he encourages others in the group to find a way to serve. What needs to change for this Bible study group to become three dimensional? They need to do a little more to care for each other and they need to find a way to serve together. Some groups may add service to their Bible study by asking the members to take turns bringing cookies to the Bible study. That’s not bad, but this group can think of ways to serve that are much more challenging and meaningful. There are some ideas in chapter 6, but you can be more creative if you think and pray about it. The possibilities are endless. A team should be quicker to go visit a member in the hospital than they are to call the pastor and ask him to visit. (Call the pastor too; he’ll want to know what’s going on.)
Jenny organizes a group of people who show up at the church each week and clean it. They enjoy each other’s company and have a good time doing their work. How far are they from being three dimensional? They are already serving. They are experiencing a little bit of Christian love. They need to extend the love and find ways to grow together. They could also become creative in finding other ways to serve. Maybe Jenny doesn’t feel that she is very good at leading a Bible study. She could use a study guide, ask the team members to take turns leading the study, or just do her best leading a study even if she doesn’t feel very good at it. Something good will happen when the team stretches to be three dimensional. Depending on the team, they might only study and pray together once or twice a month. They might clean the church every week, but go do something outside the church once a month.
Crystal gets together with a group of other women each week. They pray for each other and enjoy a lot of laughter. Because they are developing great friendships, they call each other throughout the week to share joy, sorrow, and worry. They find it easy to pray for each other over the phone or anywhere they are together. They are very open with each other and honest about how they are feeling. What would this group need to do to become three dimensional? They could add some Bible study to their regular meeting and find a way to serve someone once a month. This would help the members of the group grow and serve. It would also help the group avoid becoming a little clique that is great at caring for each other, but cares little for anyone else.
Why should these groups that are already doing something well consider becoming teams that are three dimensional? Three dimensional teams will help believers develop rounded, healthy lives. Some of the unhealthy conditions we find in the lives of American Christians are:
Spectator – There are many Christians who think that serving is someone else’s job, that their lives are too busy to serve, or that they aren’t qualified. We have found, though, that even spectators have a desire deep in their heart to serve in some way. Being asked to clean the church may not ignite their passion, but some form of service probably will. Serving with a team can be the start of a new direction in a person’s life.
Isolated – Some people, who have had mostly bad relationships with others, choose to spend their lives in isolation. A healthy team can be very effective in helping a person come out of their shell and have meaningful friendships with other believers. A one dimensional group may fail to do this.
Overworked – When a team shares a task, the load on any one person is usually manageable. When we serve by ourselves, we can feel overworked. One of the important benefits of teams serving together is avoiding loading too much responsibility on any one person.
Complacent – We were really meant to care about others. A person who is disconnected, though, from meaningful relationships with others can easily get caught up in their own problems and become complacent about doing anything with or for others.
Underchallenged – If a person is only given the opportunity to serve in ways that he or she is not passionate about and that do not seem challenging to them, they may wither from the lack of challenge. Serving with a team can help them uncover the things that really challenge them.