Why our churches should have small groups (Part Three)

We have already looked, in the first and second parts, at the reasons for having small groups in church. In this third and final part of my series on small groups, I just wanted to share some of my personal reflections and experiences of small groups.

In the church where I grew up and worshipped for most of my life, there were no small groups at all. The congregation was around 90-100 people, mainly elderly, and there was a midweek Bible study and prayer meeting led by the minister where about about 6-10 people attended regularly. However this group met in a church hall, not in anyone's home, and to be honest there was little time given to fellowship and almost no sense that had to look after, pastor, or share our lives with each other. We studied the Bible in a question-and-answer format, we prayed together, we went home.

I have to say this left me initially sceptical about having small groups. I didn't really see the point of them and I was not enthusiastic about them in any way. I thought a small group would simply be the same as the church Bible study but transported into a living room with more comfortable seats! I think it's important to know that's the background to the rest of what I'm about to say.

When I started going out with Laura, I went along to the small group she belonged to in another church and though I found it strange to begin with, once I began to experience a small group I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of a meeting in the comfort of someone's living room (apart from anything else the chairs we used to sit on for my old church's Bible study were pretty uncomfortable).

Immediately I realised that most of my negative preconceptions about small groups were actually prejudices and I began a serious re-think about how small groups might actually be a blessing and a benefit in a church. I changed from being a sceptic to being convinced I wanted to be in a church that had small groups.

One of the biggest decisions we had to make after getting married was which church we would go to as a newly married couple. After a lot of discussion and prayerful reflection, we ended up both leaving our former churches and joining our present church, which although it didn't have many small groups, it did have a few and we have been going along to our group for about ten years now.

In that time our small group has really been important to me and Laura, not just for the warm fellowship, kindness and and support we've received, but for the excellent Bible studies and times of prayer we've had there. Most of the material I listed in the first two parts of this series is my reflections on the benefits I've felt by being in a small group for the past three years.

My experience during these years of being part of a small group has only re-enforced my enthusiasm for small groups being a significant vehicle for Bible study, prayer, fellowship and pastoral support.

I would warmly encourage all churches to at the very least explore the small group model, to try it out if there are currently no small groups in your church, and if there are small groups, to encourage, promote and work for their development and growth. In doing so, I am positive many churches would be the better for it.