Small Groups are the vital piece to moving from small ministry to effective discipleship. I say that with all confidence because I’ve seen the real value myself. Small Groups broaden the scope of our discipleship efforts, provide a context for addressing personal issues, and promote mutual accountability.
In last week’s post I mentioned how early in my ministry I had a very naïve sort of philosophy of discipleship: give people lots of information and they’ll grow and change. But the more I taught the less change and growth I saw; in fact I often saw more arrogance, division, and hostility than spiritual maturity. The problem was that people were becoming full of knowledge but were not doing life together. It was easy to speak “theology,” but it was also easy to hide behind that knowledge and pretend like growth was happening where it really wasn’t. Small Groups, when done rightly, don’t afford us that kind of secrecy in the church.
One of the things that I have really come to value in Small Group ministry is its ability to broaden the scope of our discipleship efforts. Small Groups can do more disciple-making than any one individual can. There are only so many people that a pastor can pour into, counsel, and check-up on regularly. His time is limited, as is his energy. Discipleship, however, takes work and commitment. Jesus himself only poured into twelve men consistently, and he had an inner circle of three which he focused on even more intently. By breaking down the discipleship efforts and making it a church-wide ministry, as it should be, it not only frees up the pastor but increases our ability to impact more people. As we share the load of making disciples – a commission given to the church and not the pastor alone – we can see an ever-expanding process of discipleship.
In my own experience as we participated in the small group set up we saw not only more people growing but more people taking responsibility for the spiritual growth of others. I had to see less counseling cases and make fewer follow-up calls because I knew that the people in our congregation were helping each other, discipling each other, checking-up on each other. That’s the value of small groups: it broadens our discipleship efforts.
Beyond that, Small Groups also provide us for a context to address more personal issues. The nature of the Sunday morning corporate worship service doesn’t always permit us to tackle the thorny, deeply personal matters of spiritual growth. Hopefully a pastor is always aiming to be practical, but because of the wide diversity represented in a large gathering you can’t be overly specific. Too much specificity can begin to narrow the application to only a few in the room. Furthermore, it’s not always helpful or wise to share deeply personal things with everyone. Some things need more delicate, more private settings to be addressed. Small Groups provide us that kind of context where we can be honest about our failures, frustrations, concerns, and sins and seek wise counsel and prayer from those that we know love us. When Small Groups work correctly they provide us a place to work out those personal issues we need help with.
I’ve been part of Small Groups where people confessed deep struggles with lust, pornography, addiction, and depression. I’ve seen God use groups to meet the financial and material needs of other members in the group. My wife led a group that was able to do a focused discussion on the very practical needs of the young women in that group. Without a Small Group where do these things happen. There is a level of intimacy that develops in a Small Group over the course of their long-term commitment. As it does it creates a unique context for addressing these kinds of personal issues that we all face and want help with.
Finally, Small Groups promote mutual accountability. It is true of any church, no matter its size, that anonymity is always a possibility for those who attend. It’s easy to slip in to church, participate in a Sunday School class, attend a prayer meeting, and yet never have anyone speak into your life. And participation in church events and theological knowledge can easily lead us into self-deception. We may often think we are evidencing more spiritual growth in our lives than we actually are. But without having a place to work out that theology, without demonstrating love for others, and without giving people a chance to help me see blind spots in my life there is no real growth happening. Spiritual Growth does not happen in isolation from the church!
Small Groups promote mutual accountability by inviting community. As I spend time with others, as I get to know them and share my struggles and joys, they get to know me. They begin to see where I struggle, and are even able sometimes to see blind spots in my life. Self-evaluation is important but it’s not sufficient. Like the guy going to an important business meeting with cream cheese in his mustache, we all need someone to come along side us and say, “Hey friend, you’ve got something on your face.” Small Groups provide us a place of loving accountability where real growth can happen because we are being challenged by people who know us, see us, spend time with us, and care about us.
All of these things are benefits of Small Group ministry, but they require that such groups be working effectively. So next week I’ll be discussing my model of Small Group ministry and how it, I believe, accomplishes all these things and more.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 
Pastor Dave,
In your article above you mention that making disciples is “a commission given to the church and not the pastor alone”. I recently read the article “Shepherding Like the Good Shepherd” By Ben Arbour from the March/April 2013 issue of Modern Reformation magazine (http://www.modernreformation.org/). After pointing out that the word for pastor can also be translated shepherd, it says, “It is important to note that the command ‘to shepherd’ isn’t given to all the saints. All Christians should encourage, rebuke, teach, admonish, and love one another. But unlike these ‘one another’ commands, the command to shepherd is given uniquely and only to either apostles or elders in the New Testament. Delegating this responsibility to Sunday school teachers or small group coordinators, important as those roles may be, amounts to an abdication of leadership, especially when we consider the type of authority required for biblical shepherding. After all, shepherding is frequently associated with the idea of ruling (cf. Matt. 2:6, 1 Tim. 5:17). In fact, poimaino is translated ‘rule’ in many English versions of Revelation 2:27 and 19:15.” The writer of this article takes shepherding and making disciples as equivalent terms (I would be happy to provide you with a copy if you would like).
I bring this up because I am not sure what my role should be as a small group leader at Cornerstone. I am not an Elder – I do not have the authority of an Elder. The commands given specifically to Elders in the Bible are not given to me. I understand the ‘one another’ commends apply to me, but I am not sure it is my role to shepherd or make disciples – except among my wife and children. I understand that the Pastors and Elders cannot effectively make disciples of all the members of a church our size, but I have a sense that there is something not quite right about expecting small groups to fulfill this role. Not sure what the answer is. Perhaps our Church is too big, or perhaps we need elders to be the small group leaders (We do not have enough elders for that). I am concerned that small groups may be another one of the ‘innovations’ of the church in America that could potentially do more harm than good.
Scott,
Why don’t we sit down and talk about this together when you’ve got some time. Give me a call at the church and we’ll set up a time.