I’m a really gracious personal trainer. Granted, I only have one client – me. But I’m willing to give that client a pass on just about anything. Long day at work? You can skip the gym this evening. Need a little extra sleep? It’s fine to set your alarm a little bit later. Feeling a little sore from yesterday? Just take it easy today.

While being so easy-going is nice for my mood, it’s not nice for producing results. In fact, I’ve never been any good at getting results when I set out on my own. It wasn’t until I started exercising with other people that I started to see results. Can you guess what changed? I am finally accountable to someone else. If I don’t show up, the group notices. If I don’t put in a real effort, they’ll notice that too. I’m in the gym way more in an average week than I would ever go by myself. Exercising with other people gets results because it creates accountability.

One of the ways that small groups will help you grow in maturity is by offering you some accountability. Unfortunately, accountability can be a scary word in Christian circles, right? I know what some of you are picturing. We conjure up hour-long confession sessions where we dump all our deepest secrets on the table. We imagine people looking over our shoulder, looking for our next slip up. Doesn’t that sound terrible? If that’s accountability – no thanks!

But that’s not what we’re talking about at all. Christian accountability is less like a private investigator and more like a group work-out. We come together to help each other get results.

Let’s think back to the last time you resolved to read through your Bible in a year. How far did you get? The second half of Exodus? Many of us set out to do these things alone and it takes a staggering amount of discipline to succeed. However, something as simple as reading through it with other people can go a long way to making us stick to the plan. And when we stick to it, we get results. When we regularly spend time in the Word of God, it’s only a matter of time before it begins to transform us.

Have you been treating your Christian growth like an individual endeavor? If so, how is that working for you? If you’re not experiencing transformation, maybe it’s time to try something new. Instead of training by yourself, maybe it’s time to treat your Christian growth like a team sport. Maybe it’s time to find a group of other believers and be accountable to them.

If you’re interested in visiting a small group, you can check them out here.