Last Tuesday our men's ministry concluded the Winter-Spring season of small group meetings. We have one more large group meeting before our summer schedule kicks in. Knowing this was the last time our small groups would meet, and many of our guys would be moving on to other groups, we asked our groups to take time to affirm one another as part of doing closure.
We began the exercise of affirmation at our leaders meeting, which takes place an hour before the regular small group activities kick in. Tom Johnson, one of our pastors, who has been journeying with us through this season, recently announced to the church that he would be moving into a new ministry in Slovakia. It seemed only natural, therefore, to bring affirmation to Tom as part of our personal closures with him.
From across the room, one of our small group leaders looked Tom squarely in the face and began telling Tom how he had impacted his life and how grateful he was for Tom's friendship and mentorship. And for the better part of the next hour, one man after another connected with Tom eye-to-eye and recounted their memories of Tom's impact on their lives and thanked him personally. It was an amazingly powerful time. Tom, to his credit, did not try to downplay anyone's remarks or faint false humility. He thanked each man, acknowledged their relationship, and again and again remarked how good it was that Christ had found expression through his life. It reminded me of something the Apostle Paul said to the church of Philippi:
Tom Johnson is one of those men so truly set apart to Christ internally, that the character of Christ could not help but find numerous ways to externally touch the lives of others around him. There is much that I have learned, received, heard and seen in Tom that is worth paying attention to, worth considering how it speaks to me of the character of Christ and how that should become a reality in my own life.
I have some journaling to do.
Later, when our small groups assembled, we continued the exercise of affirmation and personal closure. As a co-facilitator, I led the men of our small group into a time of personal check-in, followed by giving each man in the group an opportunity to affirm the one who had just checked-in. Again, it was a profoundly powerful time of mutual encouragement and exhortation, as each of us looked our brother in the eye and told them what we appreciated about their presence and contribution to the group. When I drove home later, I could not help but feel that we had been the "body of Christ" to each other in an extra-ordinary way. It seems so obvious that we are to do this regularly with each other - that affirming one another this way is part of "encouraging one another all the more as the Day approaches."
