Are you registered for a Bible study or small group this fall? I hope you are! If not, you may be missing out on one of the sweetest opportunities we have to grow in our faith and in community.

I can’t tell you how many children’s ministry and family ministry leaders I talk with who are new to a church staff—or new to volunteering—and have never participated in a small group Bible study.

Almost all of them!

So let me give you four solid reasons why you should jump into a study this fall:

1. You are a child of God—not His employee. As believers in Jesus, our primary identity is child of God, not ministry employee, staff member, or volunteer.

It is absolutely essential that we keep growing into the likeness of Jesus, especially when we are representing Him in a role of leadership. And honestly? It is so much easier to serve Jesus when we are spending time with Jesus.

Studying God’s Word alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ strengthens us for the work God has called us to do.

2. Small groups remind us that we are wired for Christian community and we are better together. A small group is a wonderful place to grow in Christian relationships with the Body of Christ right where we serve.

And it’s also a beautiful opportunity to remember that the Body of Christ is much bigger than the church where you happen to serve—or the church that happens to be your place of employment. A quick online search of small study groups for other local churches in your community or on your commute can give you a bunch of choices to fit your schedule.

We need one another. We were never meant to do ministry alone.

3. Your small group can become a ministry partnership. If you participate in Christian study in the church where you serve, you have a natural place to share your heart, your vision, and the ministry God has entrusted to you. It can be the perfect place to say, “Here’s what God is stirring in me. Will you pray with me? Will you help me? Will you come alongside this ministry?”

Sometimes the best ministry partners are sitting right there beside you in Bible study!

4. You are modeling a life of learning for the bigs of the littles you serve. When we willingly submit ourselves to a small group, we model something incredibly important for the adults and families we serve: We never outgrow our need to learn and grow in Christ-likeness.

Making margin for spiritual growth keeps us teachable. It keeps us humble. It reminds us that even when we are leading others, we are still disciples ourselves. And I think that’s a pretty important lesson for our littles—and their bigs—and our colleagues to see.

This fall I’ll be joining a women’s-only small group that meets on Thursday mornings in the home of a hostess-with-the-mostest, co-led by two other amazing women of faith whom I want to know better. Our study will be Father’s House: The Path That Leads Home by Karen McAdams and Rachel Faulkner Brown.

The very first line on the back of the book says: “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?’”

And I’m here for it.

I want to live an adventurously expectant life—one that keeps asking, “What’s next, Papa?” and then eagerly follows where He leads.

So, friends, here’s my question for you: What small group or Bible study will you jump into this fall?

Find one. Register. Show up. Open your Bible. Make some new friends. Grow a little deeper.

Your ministry will be better because you did. And so will you.

“And you did not receive the ‘spirit of religious duty,’ leading you back into the fear of never being good enough, but you have received the ‘Spirit of full acceptance’ enfolding you into the family of God.” Romans 8:15