Small is beautiful essential
Like many churches Cambray Baptist Church has Small Groups. And like many other churches Small Groups can look just like various other ministries in the church, such as Men’s ministry or Children’s work: if I’m in that category or interested in that sort of work I can get involved, but if not, then that’s okay. Yet, if you are thinking that or if that is your experience of Small Groups, then we’ve probably got our understanding of Small Groups very wrong.
Let’s get back to basics!
I’m sure that you’re aware of the way the early church met in homes as well as in the Temple courts (Acts 2:46). To some extent this was a practical solution to a practical problem … there were no dedicated church buildings. And yet there are much more fundamental reasons. In Ex 18:24 the smallest unit was a group of 10 for the practical and pastoral care of God’s people, with groups of 10 leaders in turn being cared for by the leaders of 100s, and those leaders cared for by the leaders of 1000s. Scaling up the care for God’s people, particularly when a church grows rapidly from 300 to 4000+ as the early church did, requires the provision of smaller groups.
In Ezra’s time, when the people were responding to God’s word and needed to be taught and grow rapidly, Ezra taught from God’s word and the Levites explained the word and helped people apply it in smaller groups (Neh 8:7-8). When Jesus wanted to prepare the future church for growth he took aside 12 who he closely discipled, as well as the wider circle of 72. They lived with him, saw how He lived, listened to Him teach and joined in prayer with Him. This was ‘full life’ discipleship in action, and was what was needed to enable His disciples to grow spiritually. And we know that Paul emulated His Lord as he gathered men to him to disciple, just as Paul also encouraged Timothy to gather others to himself to disciple in the same way.
Following a good lead
Small groups, then, seek to emulate the principles modelled by Jesus and in the early church by bringing people together for discipleship … which includes teaching, prayer, pastoral and practical care, fellowship and witness. Following Jesus’ lead, we seek to take time to live together because a Small Group must be much more than a bi-weekly meeting if it is to see disciples grow; rather, it is in the messiness of openly facing difficulties together that we learn. We see in Eph 4, that the gifts of the church together are necessary for growth into maturity in Christ, and the Small Group should bring that dynamic together in a concentrated and more regular form. God uses people to form people (Prov 27:17) and it is in this context of discipleship that others see the work of God in us (John 13:34-35).
Getting our actions right
I said, provocatively, at the start that if we saw Small Groups as an optional extra, then we have either got our understanding of Small Groups or our experience of them wrong. Sadly one or other of these will often be the case. Where a Small Group focuses on fellowship, or on teaching, or on care to the loss of other aspects, and so loses its purpose as a place to grow together in discipleship, our experience of Small Groups will have been far short of what is intended. Equally, where we attend a Small Group without going there to help make disciples, we will quickly become dissatisfied that the group is not meeting our particular need and fail to experience the thrill of growing together as disciple-making disciples.
A new commitment
Because Small Groups are so fundamental to the discipling work of the church, we have gathered the Small Group leaders together twice in the Autumn term to share the vision for Small Groups. There are so many great groups, but every group constantly needs reminding of their purpose and encouragement in their work. It has been so wonderful to see many groups once again grasp their purpose and, where necessary, change direction. And it has been great to see more people get involved in a Small Group. But, if we are serious about being a church that grows disciples, if we are serious about being a church which is able to grow, if we are serious about supporting God’s people as they reach out where God has scattered them in the week, then we have no option but to be a church which plants new Small Groups, strengthens existing Small Groups and encourages everyone who is able to be a part of a Small Group. To be the kind of church we aspire to be, we must have a new commitment to Small Groups.
Where the rubber hits the road
So, here is the challenge: Are you involved in a Small Group? If so, do you see it as far more than ‘another meeting’ … are you going to live together as a community which is growing together in Jesus? That combination of openness and honesty that comes from living together, caring for one another’s practical and spiritual needs, praising and praying together, listening to God in His word together, encouraging one another in daily witness and reaching out with the gospel together … it’s a thrilling, God exalting place of spiritual growth.
Probably your Small Group is still on the journey to becoming a place like that … but knowing where we should be headed is fundamental to getting there! So, will you join us in praying for the strengthening of our Small Groups and the planting of new Small Groups in the year ahead? And maybe God has challenged you to get more involved in a Small Group yourself. Or it could be that God is calling you to consider planting or leading a Small Group – why not talk to Tim or Alwyn about it?