Churches all over the nation are recognizing a need to get small groups going in their congregations. But getting small groups started in a church and keeping the groups healthy are two completely different jobs.
As head of Touch Outreach Ministry, my job is to look at churches that have failed with small groups and to try to help them find health. As I've done that, I've seen several principles of ...
Where did small groups start? Are cell groups (small groups, care groups) a New Testament pattern? Which denominations, other than the Methodists, promote the use of small groups?
Though there's a lot we don't know about the early church, we can learn a lot from the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul. Paul uses the word "ekklesia," which from pre-Christian days meant "any gathering of a ...
1. What is the vision for small groups at our church? This question is fundamental. Answering it requires asking two more questions. First, what is our overall vision for what small groups can and will do in our church? (And, What is our biblical basis?) Second, what kinds of people in our church can and must be reached by the small group ministry?
Early
in my pastorate, I realized our congregation (at that time about 180) was like
many churches of all sizes—though we called ourselves friendly, we were essentially
a small core of insiders with a bunch of newcomers on the fringe, unable to
break in.
One solution was to start
a small group ministry. A year or so into it, I preached a series "The
Company of the Committed" built around ...
ARTICLE E-Groups Can't find a time or place for your small group to meet? Try meeting in cyberspace. Marilyn A. Yocum
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My ideal small group would have included three good friends: Lynn, Margaret, and Susan. But I figured it could never happen. They were all busy people. We saw each other in church on Sunday and exchanged e-mail through the week, but the last thing any of us needed was another weekly meeting to attend.
The four of us operated in different spheres with little overlap. Lynn was a young mother of three ...
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