STRONG CHURCHES

Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer (SOAP) by Dr. Ralph Rittenhouse, GDI President

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"While knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church." 1 Corinthians 8:1 (NLT)

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Paul had learned a lot in a few years. This is a man who was known for his great knowledge. He had studied with the best. But he was also known for his great violence and hostility toward those who followed Christ, trying to destroy the early church. Now he had become a man whose values had radically changed. Now it was not about how much you know, but how much you love.

Knowledge puffs up. It can make you arrogant and cold. It can make you argumentative and cause division. That's evidently what was happening in Corinth. But Paul had learned that it is love that builds up. It is love that holds the church together. It's love, that like a magnet, draws unbelievers to Jesus, melts their defenses and destroys their arguments, and causes our churches to grow.

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I preached for 32 years in one church location trying to help a congregation grow in their knowledge of the Word of God--a worthy objective. But, when we started training in disciplemaking. gender-specific quads, a whole new chapter of my experience as a pastor began to unfold. I had chosen three men to join me on my disciplemaking journey, and we signed a covenant to do our homework and prepare for our once-a-week meeting.

We committed ourselves to make this meeting a high priority and not to miss unless it was a dire emergency.. We voluntarily put ourselves in a place of strong accountability to each other and to God,  saying we would let Him change us anyway He wanted. At the end of each session we shared prayer requests, opening our lives, our needs and struggles in full view of the group. It became a place of safety and honesty.

Then something began to happen. These men quickly became my best friends, and the group became a place of positive encouragement and relational strength for each of us. We were stronger together. I have to confess; I’m not sure I had ever really loved other men like the men in this group. One of the men in my group was a test pilot for Raytheon, an aerospace company.

As I was walking down an aisle in a CVS drug store, my phone rang. It was the test pilot calling me on a satellite phone from the cockpit of his experimental airplane, half way through a 2600-mile flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu. An additional fuel tank had been installed on his aircraft to enable him to make this flight, but the tank would not engage.

This was a dangerous situation, and he called me?!? I’m not an engineer. I don’t know anything about airplanes. But he didn’t call for mechanical help. He called me because I could give him something the technicians at Raytheon couldn’t…prayer support.

Another man in our group owned a construction company. There were always customer and employee relationships that became a focus of our prayers. And, of course, we all had families who needed our prayers. But this bonding discovery didn’t just happen in my group. We had started three other groups at the same time, and they were experiencing similar results. Not only were we growing deeper in our knowledge of God and the Bible, we were learning to love in new ways.

One of the important commitments we made when we joined these groups is that when we finished this curriculum, which could take one to two years, we would then prayerfully consider starting additional groups, with three more people.

Our strength as a church was rooted in God's love, a love that had become real and evident in our lives. We had seen a church across town split over doctrinal issues. When many in our congregation became passionate about making disciples, others didn't. But instead of dividing us, we developed patience, learning to allow God to do his work in his time, in each individual heart.

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Father, thank You for demonstrating Your kind of love to us, by sending Christ to die for us. Thank You for teaching us to love selflessly, like You do. And, as we continue to grow in knowledge, may we never forget, that it is Your love in us that truly remakes us like Your Son, Jesus Christ through Your love by Your Holy Spirit working in and through us.

How did SOAP originate?

What is SOAP?

See HOW TO journal examples here. When you journal in your own quiet time devotions, your personal love relationship with Jesus is enhanced as you spend time together.