Text-Driven Small Groups

We're jumping into a new series at Text-Driven Ministries all about local church small groups. Your church may call these groups by a different name: Sunday School, home groups, life groups, etc. For the sake of simplicity, we're going to be using the term "small groups" for our discussion over on the Text-Driven Podcast and article series to describe this area of local church ministry. As we begin this critical discussion, we need to first provide an overview of what a small group is, what makes it work, and why it's important for you.

What's a Small Group?

Whether you're attending a smaller or larger church, a small group is typically an auxiliary of a local church for the purpose of teaching, fellowship, and outreach. It typically meets weekly with the same group of people and the same teacher, making it different from a church event like a men's prayer breakfast. The small group functions to make sure that every church member is active, discipled, and cared for. It's utilized as the primary discipleship arm of the church.

What Does an Unhealthy Small Group Look Like?

With the positive definition of a small group, a negative definition is also needed: The small group is not where "church" happens. It's not the "circle" that is more important than the "rows" (cooperate gathering). A small group is not a clique or church within a church, but rather exists to aid the church.

The best terminology for a small group is "auxiliary." An auxiliary exists to help the main thing function properly. An auxiliary army unit exists to help the army. It is not a separate army, nor does it operate independently of the main army. In the same way, a small group is not a separate church, nor does it operate independently from the church it is part of. Similarly, if an auxiliary army became a nuisance to the main army, it would cease to exist. Likewise, a small group that is a nuisance to the local church should cease to exist. A small group must help disciple and grow the members into a more healthy, working body of the local church. If a small group exists distinctly from a church or to the detriment of a church, it ceases to function properly.

A final aspect of the definition is that the small group is a vital auxiliary. While some small groups become problems for a church or stir up disunity, small groups (at large) are very helpful to the local church. It prevents people from getting lost in the shuffle. It makes the church feel small and personal. It gives new believers and members recognizable faces in the Sunday morning gathering. The small group equips, encourages, and mobilizes the church members for Christian actions and duties.

What Makes a Small Group Work?

A large part of what makes a small group work is the critical teaching-learning process. Through this series we'll be talking about different aspects of this process, but everything comes down to the teaching-learning process. Stake's Formula says that the teaching-learning process is the factors of teacher, learner, curriculum, and environment.

First, a small group must have a doctrinally faithful teacher who is equipped and prepared to lead the small group. The task of teacher goes beyond just teaching material, one also leads the group in outreach, evangelism, prayer, and more. A small group will fail to function properly if it does not have a well-equipped teacher in place.

Second, a small group also needs learners. A learner is not someone who is just present, but one that is present and engaged. A small group will fail if the people present are not learners or teachable.

Third, a small group needs a curriculum. A small group should not merely gather for a social hour. Curriculum comes in two forms: stated and unstated. Stated curriculum is the actual, formal material being taught. For a small group, this would be the Bible study book or material. Unstated curriculum is what is being taught outside of the formal material. This would include conversations before and after the small group, the manner in which the small group interacts with each other, and other non-verbal communication between teacher and learners. Good curriculum, both stated and unstated, is necessary for a small group.

Lastly, the factor of environment is necessary for a small group. Environment both refers to the physical location of the small group and the emotional environment of the small group. A small group must be an extension of the hospitality of the local church. The environment should not be hostile or counteract the work and mission of the church.

These four factors are important to evaluate within the teaching-learning process. While the podcasts and articles won't address these factors directly, each podcast episode and article will indirectly deal with one of these factors.

Conclusion

Small groups matter. A lot. We desire for your local church to have doctrinally faithful and distinctly Baptist small groups. We also desire for your to be an active member in a doctrinally faithful and distinctly Baptist small group. We pray that this new series will equip you in establishing or redirecting your local church small groups to function properly, build healthy church members, and build up the church.

Written by Klayton Carson

You can listen to the Text-Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at www.textdriven.org/podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday, just in time for your morning commute.