How many of us have noble goals for our faith development - like reading through the Bible in a year - only to abandon then in January with Genesis? As important as our faith development is in private, we need to come together in small communities so that we can do a number of things: learn from one another, have someone to encourage us to keep growing in the faith, and have people pray with us for our needs. Small groups are not a new trend - they go back to the early church - but how they can look can change from generation to generation.
However, there is one thing that small groups cannot be - they cannot be cliques. Small groups must be safe spaces where we can come together to grow, and that is impossible when we feel like we don't belong, even if that is not the message that other people mean to send.
Small groups are the basic building blocks of the faith - where we come to love the Lord and love one another. No matter how small the worship attendance may be on Sunday, it is hard to know the hearts and needs of everyone present. Small groups give a place to radically care for one another and to spur one another on in the faith. What type of small group would you like to start in your church?
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