The Post-Small Group era
Heartland has a proud history of being a church of small groups. The church was planted using small groups about 10 years ago. The focus was on relationships and including new people. Groups started and people enjoyed amazing personal growth and many others came to experience the church for the first time. This was during the hayday of Carl George and the meta-church movement. Remember the meta-globe? Who is your coach? Did you go to the VHS? Want to be an Xa? What zone are you in? I digress.
Heartland enjoyed a wonderful ministry run that included small groups as the primary ministry building block. After a few years, the church, like many other church plants began to experience significant conflict. Many people left for other churches. Heartland was exposed and vulnerable. The church went through a very difficult time. She almost closed the doors.
But prayer, perseverance and a no quit attitude of the ones left behind, the church continued. Things were different though. Small groups took a hit. People were tired and leaders were stressed and the groups slowly began to end their meetings. One after another. Today there are only a few groups meeting.
Our council just came back from a retreat at Lindell Beach to talk about how do we care for each other. How do we promote community at Heartland, and what is going well. We were surprised to notice that in the absence of a small group ministry, caring and community was happening more than we first thought..
Those of us who were involved in the small group era, believed that authentic biblical community (willow term) could not happen without small groups and that if you didn't have groups, you didn't have much.
We discovered the opposite. People have been connected in rich ways. People are caring for each other spontaneously, friendships are rich and yes, there is authentic biblical community happening. There is life after small groups.
Has anyone else found that there this life after small group ministry? If so, I'd love to hear from you and to learn from you. Let us all know what's working.
Yes, we maybe post-modern, perhaps we are also post-small group. Imagine embracing being a church with groups instead of a church of small groups.
Tags: small groups, heartland fellowship
posted by mike vanderkwaak at
11:20 PM
2 Comments:
there's a tension here isn't there. i wonder if a lot of it is rooted in north american pragmatism... we are so focused on "what works" that we convert biblical goals & direction into programs.
community & relationships are biblical [in the sense, that the bible sets this direction] - small groups are not [in the sense that they are not described explicitly] having said that, small groups are, i believe, an important way of helping people connect relationally [we cannot connect unless we spend time together - outside of the sunday AM gathering]
my heart is to see the church be relationally connected. my experience is that small groups often fail when they cease to be groups that disciple those in the group and multiply - via new people coming into relationship with jesus... that sounds a lot like what the church is supposed to be :-)
Hey Mike,
Re. Small Groups Ministry. Please don't throw the baby out with the bath water. There are a variety of ways of developing connectedness and small groups are one of these ways. And an important one in an age in which people are often too busy to form deeply caring relationships. Perhaps we need to re-examine the purpose of small groups. If they exist only to develop closeness I believe we are missing rather important elements, one of which is conversation/study/reading the Bible together to determine God's message to us. Not what we think He says but what He is really telling us in His Word. Such actvity often leads to deep sharing about faith and life, encourages people, builds community, and often challenges participants to be diligent in serving God. Additionally, such small groups help people spend time reading and thinking about the Bible, essential for the Christian, isn't it?
John Vanderhoek
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home