Why “Small Group” in the Church
Small Church group based on the Bible
The small group model in the Church does not rise from modern people, it has mentioned in the Bible. Both in the Old and New Testament have mentioned how the small group helped to gather God’s people together and became more united.
Small group in the Old Testament
Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to the land of Canaan. In this huge group, Moses was the only one who was in charge, and huge amount people was exhausted his energy because one person’s ability is too limited, cannot take care of all the people, so the complaints were everywhere. God took his father-in-law to Moses and instructed him how to use the group’s administrative principles to solve the problem. Moses divided the millions of people into groups of ten people when they were still in the wilderness.
Another example of the small group was Daniel and his friends. Daniel and three friends formed a group when they were among the Gentiles, and together they support each other, pray together to God, to be together with God’s presence. They were a good testimony of the Lord before non-believers.
Jesus and His group
Jesus chose twelve disciples, and even he had three closest “core members” in his small group — Peter, James, and John. Jesus also promised, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” In this group, Jesus engraved the message of the kingdom and the spiritual life in the hearts of the twelve disciples and trained them to teach the other followers.
The example of the early Church
The early church sometimes gathered in the temple, sometimes have the Holy Communion in a believer’s house. Brothers and sisters were built up together through the large group of worship and the small group of interaction in the Lord, and the Church became the God’s testimony before the Gentiles.
The advantages of the small group
If a Christian only have once a week worship on Sunday, or one once a week in a big group of people Bible study meeting. Basically, there is no chance for you to open your heart to share with others with personal struggling and spiritual needs from work and other aspects of the inner life. Only in the secure environment, people are willing to share. If the Church has the small group, you can make up these deficiencies, and enhance the understanding of God’s word; building up the relationship between members, holding each other’s’ life together. Many churches have started the small group model. For example, the Church I was involved in when I was in San Francisco was doing great in small group model. They three major group before the main session of the Chapel. One is called “growth in Christ” one is called “adult Bible study” one is called “Gospel group” Each group has 12–15 people, including two leaders. As book mention on page 157, “research has also shown that values influence the development of friendship. People tend to become friendly with others whose values are similar. Individuals generally select friends who agree with this perspective in matters of importance.” For example in the Gospel group, between those unbelievers, they are more familiar with each other’s value, so they have the more common topic to share without pressure. In the group of growth in Christ, they are probably excited to share how God listen to their prayer. In the adult Bible study group, we talk more about how to live a life to please God according to the Bible teachings.
The small group is easy for everyone to communicate frankly
Today’s Christians spiritual needs cannot be fulfilled if we only meet on Sunday and listen to a message. Many people need a suitable environment to open their hearts and talk with others about their personal spiritual needs through honest communication. In the group, they can help each other, comfort and prayer for each other. Therefore, the small group can provide such an opportunity for its members to explore their personal beliefs, to experience God faithfulness with other together, to give thanks to God with others, to find the true meaning of life in Christ with others. Together, to experience the richness of God.
A sense of Belonging
Everyone needs a sense of belonging, especially in the busy and indifferent modern society, people are more eager to find a sense of belonging. So small group in the church can be a warm, lovely home for those who want to come and be part of it. In here, you can find a place which is safe and secure, a place which you can rest your heart and put down your mask, a place which you can build a relationship with one another. Everyone practice to forgive each other, to accept each other, encourage each other, strengthen each other. United in the same heart and the same Spirit. As Paul said in the book of Ephesians 4: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
The need of life equipment and disciples training
Most churches, pastors, and deacons are responsible for the church ministries, and most of the church members do not join the service. Many believers come to church just for a listening a message, and they lack the awareness of service. Small group model can provide more “normal Christians” the opportunity to participate in the church service. According to service in the small group, they can explore their spiritual gifts and ability, thus can motivate them to be more devoted to Christ. Also, for those who don’t read the Bible daily, though the service, they would more responsible to their own devotion life since they have to lead some small group. They would gain basic truths and more comprehensive and correct understanding of the Bible. Eventually, their spiritual life would get equipped.
Conclusion
There are still many advantages can be listed, because the small group is a good method to build up Church. I think Church is different with other organizations because its members love each other and trust each other. But still, have some elements we must consider with when church get bigger. This kind of phenomenon is called “secondary group” in the book of page 156. “A larger and more impersonal than primary group.” So, when it happens, we should do something before the conflicts and separations happen. Small group model would be a good way to avoid it because we can put the different type of people into different group temporary. Let each group learn the spiritual lessons separately, then put them together sometime to teach how to become more united in Christ. Of course, as leaders of small groups, we have to be aware of the direction of small group model is not to cause the separation but to build up the body of Christ in a right way. Quote from Lawrence Richards, author of A New Face for the Church, “To learn to trust, and to become trustworthy, to learn to love, and to become loving, we must become deeply involved in the lives of others, to whom we commit ourselves to Christ. To develop this kind of relationship we need others to share themselves with us. All of this demands time. More than this, it requires a face to face relationship. A relationship we can have only with a few others at a time. And thus a church is forced to move into a small group structure.”
