My Life as a Biggest Loser - Pt. 2

Have you ever been a part of something that just drew you in?  Immediately felt connected to something that was bigger than yourself?  As a Christian - that's how I feel about the Body of Christ.  No matter where I go - I have family.  There is a camradery and a kinship that comes from striving toward the same goal. 

My Biggest Loser journey is a bit like that!  Everywhere I look, I see spiritual analagies of how the body of Christ is meant to operate.  In fact, there have been several times when it seemed the Church could stand to learn a few things from the Biggest Loser approach... here is one example:

Team Pink - "Before" Picture

Overweight, out-of-shape people tend to stay away from the gym.  Why?  Because gyms are filled with "fit and healthy" people - and that's intimidating.  Makes me think of people that I know who are spiritually out of shape that won't grace the premise of a church.  The BL program makes a safe environment for the unhealthy to come learn about being healthy.  And NOT by plopping us among all healthy people and expecting us to figure it out.  Instead, we are on teams of other folks who are at the same place, but with seasoned trainers who guide us and help us.   The closest to this idea in churches that I've seen is the small group format.  Especially when there is a small group that is a "starter group"...  One that focuses on the basics.

That's what Lisa and Kaaren do each week for Team Pink.  We learn things - some of us already know some of the information - but we practice what we know and keep adding to it.  When we are "ahead", we encourage those who lag behind...  When we are "behind", we lean on those who are strong. 

Oh, how I'd love to see this same thing taking place more frequently in our churches.  Somewhere along the way, we started believing the lie that Faith is a personal, private matter.  We've been shamed into keeping our mouths shut about it.  But the Body of Believers was always meant to be a group activity.  "For the body does not consist of one member but of many... God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose." (1 Cor. 12:14, 20)