Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Small groups and the small church


I see that our friend Julia Wallace of the United (States) Methodist Church is asking if anyone knows of a small church that has grown through the use of small groups.

That’s a fascinating question and I will be interested to hear what turns up. My hypothesis (and perhaps it is Julia’s, too) would be that the small church of less than, say, 40 or 50 participants is a single-cell social organism and is not likely to be nurtured by small groups. Indeed, the vigorous presence of distinct groups in the small church – whether they be committees or prayer groups – can tend to divide rather than to consolidate.

Of course, the USA “small church” is, by definition, not usually what I would call “small” so the issues are not exactly the same. But I hope that people who reply to Julia are specific about the exact size and nature of the church concerned: there could be some really interesting findings.
Ecclesion is name I have given to the small church gathering that does everything needful - worship, education, business and fellowship - without subdividing into any kind of ongoing small groups. I think that small churches that try to act like medium-sized churches create problems for themselves.

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