January 19. What Group Is Right? Maybe No Group Is Right?

As a leader, how do you group? In business, it is common to group customers into an idea of a target market. Companies might group their team members into departments, by location, or by product as well as others not mentioned. Associations group the companies of an industry.

Churches group themselves according to their prescribed beliefs. When we group, it seems that there is going to be a comparison that will soon be made. Researchers have proven that we like to be around people like ourselves. That makes it a group.

By grouping we can focus resources and potentially maximize our efforts. Seems like a smart move and it might even simplify. However, by grouping, it can be easy to find ourselves in judgment. A common result of judgment is that it can lead to strife, anger, and resentment.

By starting with grouping, we might be going down the path of commoditization. Commoditization is a path where your value offered gets restricted. When we start with why we do what we do, we can avoid or delay the strife, anger, and resentment.

Some might even be able to avoid grouping altogether. It might seem that a flow chart about value might end with a consumer or recipient and be traceable back to why the team exists in the first place. Where is your team grouping before it thinks about why?

If you cannot find a grouping, then an audit of what groups you are not serving might expose it. Exposed groups represent potential. Potential in finding new team members, new services, new markets, and new valued relationships. What is the first thing you can do about it in the next seven days?

As brothers and sisters in Christ, where are we grouping? In Colossians, we are reminded that once we accept Christ our old selves die. “In this new life, it does not matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free.

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” Colossians 3:11 NLT. Did you see all the groups that were identified here and that their need to be grouped was destroyed? In our new life, there is to be a no to the past. We can abandon where those groupings used to exist but do not have to.

 We must be careful when our culture begins to break out the grouping concept. When we say that there are the haves and have nots, the black and the white, the Protestants and the Catholics, the Democrats, and the Republicans, we have created a group.

Let us do a better job of living where we find Christ. When we live where Chris lives with us, we will change the way we look at groups. The world’s problems will not likely be solved by big government or big corporations who are great about grouping.

They will likely be solved when individuals find a way to provide value to the world. When we do this Christ is likely to see us loving others regardless of the group that they might be able to be in. Christ values only one grouping. Those that know him and those that do not.

What grouping have we aligned ourselves with that is keeping us from drawing nearer to Christ?
Let us pray, Heavenly Father, you sent your son to us to show the example of love. We have the Old Testament to show the comparison of what it is to follow the law.

We have the Old Testament to show us how people grouped, judged, compared, and warred. Inspire us to have the knowledge and wisdom to understand the no. Join us, so that our yes is in Christ and a reflection of his love for all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,