Typically, when someone thinks of the Church gathering, they think about a worship service at a local church. The gathered church in that context is gathered for prayer, reading God’s Word, hearing the Word preached, the ordinances, giving of offerings, and fellowship.
But Sunday gatherings are not the only context in which Christians meet together. The day following Pentecost we read that the early church was “day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes” (Acts 2:46). There was a consistency of their fellowship, centered around the apostles’ teaching, that spilled over into their week. Eventually, Christians started serving bagels and coffee and filling their living rooms with Bible studies. Like the early church, we continue to do this day by day fellowship around God’s Word beyond our Sunday gatherings in a setting we often call: small groups.
One of my concerns about these small group gatherings is that this time together outside of the structure of a Sunday service can be unintentionally unfruitful. Small groups can be one of the most transformative times in a Christian’s week, but if we don’t get beyond Dunkin Donuts and Fantasy League football, then what are we doing in each other’s living rooms with Bibles in our laps?
I want to help you think through two simple principles today that’ll help you avoid, at least to some degree, the murky waters of aimless small groups. These principles do not address the format of small groups but are instead focused on the purpose of small groups. These principles can be applied broadly to college Bible studies in a café, small groups held inside your living room, and even one-on-one discipleship studies. What is the purpose of a small group?
Know the Purpose of a Small Group
I’d like to offer a definition of a small group. A small group is a gathering of believers committed to becoming more like Jesus by studying the Bible, obeying it, and loving one another.
Notice that, in this definition, a small group is not church, and it must not replace church. Anyone who comes to a small group only and doesn’t attend corporate worship needs to be lovingly redirected. You may have also noticed that I intentionally left out any mention of format, structure, or method. The foundation has to be laid before the structure can be built.
There are some other serious assumptions in this definition, and they should be communicated to your group. If you don’t communicate these then the group is left wondering why they should come back week after week. Don’t leave room for that wondering. Instead, communicate these assumptions clearly to them.
First, Christians are supposed to gather. Christians in the early church met daily. This time together was influenced by devotion “to the apostles’ teaching” and “attending the temple together” and “praising God.” (Acts 2:42-47). Something supernatural occurs when a sinner turns from darkness to light and they suddenly have a desire to fellowship with other believers. There is a desire placed in the soul of the saved person to be wherever God’s Word and God’s people are, even if that’s a living room. That is exactly what we see in Acts 2. It is also worth deducing that the New Testament commands to love one another presuppose being around one another!
Second, Christians are supposed to gather to glorify God. The telos of the Christian life is to glorify God by being conformed to the image of His Son, in whom He delights. Romans 8:28 tells us that “all things” are working for the believer’s good and “according to [God’s] purpose.” The next verse expands on this and tells us that God purposed before the ages began that Christians would “be conformed to the image of His Son.” Ask yourself, is your Bible study aligned with the predetermined purpose that God has for the members of your group?
Third, Christians are supposed to gather to glorify God by means of the study of his Word. God wrote a book and that changes everything. Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” This ought to be our attitude as we consider the purpose of our small groups. We want our small group members to become more like Jesus and the only way this can happen is by a consistent and intentional beholding of Christ in God’s Word (Ps 119:18, 2 Cor 3:18). 2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Are your presuppositions about the Scriptures such that you truly believe that only God’s Word can help your group reach the goal of God’s glory in the conforming of Christians to the image of Christ?
Book studies can be tremendously beneficial to your small group. My Bible study group alternates between studying books of the Bible and biblically-sound books. If you’re studying an extrabiblical book, ask yourself: Do I choose books that presuppose the sufficiency of Scripture? The way you teach or don’t teach the Bible will be revealing. Paul tells us that the Word of God “is at work” in believers (1 Thess 2:13). Therefore, in order to accomplish God’s purpose in our small groups, we need to place the highest of priorities on unleashing this soul-transforming, life-altering, wonder-working Word into our small group time. As Spurgeon has urged us before, “Let the lion out of the cage!”
Fourth, Christians are supposed to gather to glorify God by means of the study of his authoritative Word. The Word of God has authority over every aspect of your small group time and every aspect and moment of your small group members’ choices, affections, words, and thoughts. The inescapable authority of God’s Word must be a clear guiding principle in your small group time, otherwise the Word of God will simply be a box on the checklist. The explicit authority of the Word also ensures that your small group understands that teaching the Bible isn’t a formality, but an encounter with the living God that requires obedience, response, and life-change! When the Word is opened in your small groups, is that kind of weight felt in the teaching? May it never be that you ask your small group what a passage “means to them.” They must know what God means by what he has said and align their whole body and soul to that meaning.
Once you know what a small group is supposed to be, you need to communicate that clearly to your group. Aimlessness is a major pitfall in church small groups, and usually because the aim of the group is not spoken out loud. This lack of communication can even allow patterns to form in the group that hinder spiritual growth and maturity for the group.
Fulfill the Purpose of a Small Group
Not only should you know the purpose of a small group, but you should only then do that which advances this stated purpose. The stated purpose above can take many different forms, but in order for the small group to fulfill the purpose it needs to stay within the bounds of those basic principles. Let me give some thought-provoking questions and considerations for each idea to help you think about how you could begin to move your small group toward fulfilling God’s purpose for the group.
If your small group understands that meeting together is a spiritual command and a spiritual joy, it will change things. Playdates with small children take on an intentionality and direction when small group moms understand the overarching reality that they are being conformed to image of Jesus in their mothering and the Word is their only hope of attaining this goal. What men decide to do when they gather outside of Bible study will be considerably shaped by their understanding of the telos of their existence.
Consider some questions: Does your small group know the immense glory and weight of being called out of darkness and set apart in this world? Does your small group view it as their responsibility to be involved in one another’s lives and do intentional spiritual good to one another? I’ve heard it said before that the maturity of a small group can be spotted when the fellowship time in the kitchen and the Bible study time in the living room start to look similar to one another (think about that carefully). Are you a small group leader who rushes people out of the kitchen to go sit in their seats or are you the leader who is in the kitchen discipling your group members? Your small group will grow leaps and bounds when they obey the command to meet together and recognize the tremendous spiritual joy and benefit they will receive from fellowship—but they need to be told this. Do not assume your group has a rich doctrinal understanding of fellowship—show it to them from the Scriptures.
In addition to time together studying the Word, there is great value in planning fellowship activities for a small group. Bowling and beach days can be incredibly sanctifying. But the only way these times of fellowship will have content and substance is if you’ve been instilling solid biblical truth into the lives of these members when you do meet for Bible study. What is inside of your small group members will come out when they are enjoying unstructured time together.
Like any group, if there’s not an end goal or a direction the group is moving then it’s easy to lose motivation or excitement for attendance or participation. But if you clearly communicate the grand vision and purpose to your group, namely that they are being transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18) and that they are being conformed to the image of Jesus (Rom 8:29) then they are given that direction and purpose they need. The way you can know if this purpose is driving your group is simple: When someone sins in your group, do you address it? When you pray for your group or with your group, do your prayers reflect a desire for conformity to Christ or do your prayers reflect a desire for maintenance of worldly joys? Does your group know why they are sitting in your living room?
Listen, any time you take a group of human beings out of their comfort zones and place them inside of a room with one another, there is bound to be complexity and difficulty. Settle in your mind that the Word of God is sufficient. Settle in your mind that the purpose of a small group is to become more like Jesus by studying the Bible, obeying it, and loving one another. Follow through and study the Bible like it’s the living and active Word of God. Obey it by example and urge others, through discipleship, to do the same (Matthew 28:18-20). And love your group as you love yourself. Go to their kid’s soccer games. Go to their dinner parties. Show up when they need help. Be present in their lives and urge them all to be present in one another’s lives for the purpose of stirring one another up to good works for the glory of God. Light the path of your small group with the Word of God and then walk that path together.
Jean-Jacques Engelbrecht
Intentional Faith 