Plateau Jumping

We wrestled with the idea of biblical fellowship last night in group. Rick Warren’s description of biblical fellowship (authenticity, courtesy, mutuality, hospitality and unity) is a great description of small group fellowship. Most of us felt our group was striving for those characteristics. Then we pushed further - which of these did we do well as a group and which of these could we do better. That’s when we hit the plateau.
Most of us have been together for over a year, some longer. We meet every week, including most of the summer. We’ve each shared our stories, sometimes painfully so. We know each other pretty well and share pretty freely. And yet we agreed last night that we’re on a plateau and need to go deeper. Everyone agreed our relationships could be more personal, deeper, and more faith filled. So how do you get off a plateau?
Warren talks about having a spiritual partner as well as being part of a small group – someone in your group who you can call and share with between meetings. There’s no question that anyone in the group would take a phone call from another member without any hesitation and be glad to do it. And there’s the rub – that’s the plateau. While we’d gladly take the call, none of us seemed real comfortable making the call. Not sure if it’s just a “guy thing”, but asking for help, sharing problems, taking that first step is really uncomfortable. Do I really trust these guys that much? Will any of them really have time for or care about my stuff in the middle of all of their stuff? How petty will all of this sound to someone else?
Sometimes the only way to get off a plateau is to jump off. Or maybe get pushed by God.