There are some worrying trends in the small group movement within the church. You can detect the dangers in this kind of testimonial from small group members:
___We had a great time in our small group last night. I was able to talk about my brother's illness for the first time. There were lots of tears and hugs, and we prayed together for healing and faith. We really felt the presence of God. It was a little taste of heaven. Actually, I'm finding the whole small group experience is bringing me closer to Jesus as we get closer to each other. There is a real sense of community, not like at church on Sundays. It's great being able to let others know what is really going on inside and then feel accepted for what we are. And as we experience God's healing in us, we can reach out to others in need. There is a real sense of mission together.
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The small group movement has developed its own buzzwords, words like ‘community’, ‘experience’ and ‘mission’. At first glance, these words and ideas seem to be fundamental to Christianity, and we are attracted to the kind of ministry reflected in the testimonial above. However, in small group ministry, such words are now loaded with meaning and connotations that need to be challenged. The buzzwords expose some of the dangers in Christian small groups—dangers which threaten the heart of the gospel.
_Christians are bound together in a new society of those who belong to Christ, and we are being transformed by him. The distinguishing mark of Christian disciples is love, as we share in genuine community with honesty, unity, forgiveness and good deeds. We wait for heaven, the perfect community where all enemies of loving relationship are crushed under the feet of the risen Lord.
_If relationships are fundamental to Christianity, what dangers can there be in stressing community in small groups?
_The purpose of the group can easily focus on the development of human relationships. A successful group is seen to be characterized by intimacy, vulnerability, openness, forgiveness and so on. This emphasis on human relationship is often at the expense of knowing God and the salvation of Christ. JI Packer observes that there has been a shift in the purpose of small groups in the last 25 years: “It is not so much thought of as a way of seeking God as much as seeking Christian friends. The vertical axis is not emphasized as much as the horizontal axis.”
_It is not that prayer and Bible study are absent, but they are seen as tools to create community.
Groups preoccupied with community tend to become problem-centred. They become highly introverted, focusing on their own needs. If community is the aim, the ideal group is open, accepting and affirming—a haven for broken, alienated lives. It is very attractive, because we all have times of hurt, grief and disappointment living in this sinful world. A group that will put its collective arm around us and give a reassuring hug is not a bad idea. But such a group becomes problem-centred. The energy of the group is directed toward those with problems, and we all have problems all the time!
_Christian groups are not primarily about helping people with their problems. You probably can't believe you just read that! It sounds positively unchristian. But it is true. The focus of Christian groups is growth, not problems.
To summarize, our primary reason for joining a small group must not be to get closer to each other, but to grow in Christ.
_The enthusiastic testimony given for small groups above expresses a common sentiment: that the small group experience brings people closer to God. ‘Experience’ is another group buzzword because it is a profound experience to meet regularly in a small group. This is especially true in a society hell-bent on isolation and privacy. But for some who promote the small groups movement in the church, the experience of intimacy in the small group has become everything. They urge that the reality of God is found primarily in the experience of being close to others in a small group and finding ‘healing’ of emotions and hurts through this closeness. In this way, the group is said to bring us right into the presence of God.
_There are several dangers with this view, which severely undermines the gospel.
_Small groups easily become small teams. Significant things can be achieved through a disciplined, committed team with common goals. This leads small group supporters to talk a lot about mission. The mission of the group will be defined by what the group perceives itself to be achieving. If it is aiming for community, it will want to draw others into that community. If it is working for experiences, it will seek to share those experiences with others.
_The net effect of these goals can be to see mission in social terms, with evangelism as an optional extra. Mission becomes a ‘horizontal’ activity—between one another—rather than a ‘vertical’ activity—bringing others to God. The preaching of the death of Christ to a dying world is too often seen as a narrow understanding of mission—one that is out of touch with a holistic (another buzzword) view of meeting all human needs.
_There are some further implications of the small group focus on community, experience and mission. If these are misunderstood, small group ministry can become:
_The value of proclaiming the word of God is diminished in favour of small group discussion and personal discovery. The experience of the group process in Bible reading is prized above the actual message. The sermon is seen as an inferior context for learning about God because the experience may be less than scintillating. This is not what we want. Small groups ought to generate a thirst for good preaching because they develop a hunger for God's word.
_Small group ministry has become a lay movement, responding to perceived deficiencies in the churches. It can be a way for the laity to take power for themselves, in competition with congregational pastors. Some parts of the small groups movement are avowedly ‘anticlerical’. It is right to see the limitations of only having the professionals do the work of ministry. Small groups are a superb way for every Christian to get involved in ministry. However, this must not be an expression of mutiny, rejecting the authority of recognized, trained, Bible-teaching pastors.
_The closeness of community in small groups is prized above the total congregational life. In short, group members reduce commitment to church. This is a disastrous result, and creates isolated, unaccountable groups each doing what is right in their own eyes and not pulling together to make the whole church more fruitful.
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