Small
Groups Make Vital Churches
A fascinating report
from the Gallup Organization came out in 1990 entitled “The Spiritual Health
of the Episcopal Church” which may reveal parallel concerns with other
mainline church denominations. Then Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning had
commissioned the Gallup to poll a randomly selected a sample of 1000 adult
members of that denomination about its spiritual health.
The Gallup Organization
found that one of the major challenges for the church was to close the
wide gap between religious belief and practice. The following steps
were offered for consideration:
1. Encourage evangelism and invitation.
2. Listen to people’s remarkable religious experiences and spiritual
journeys.
3. Encourage an exploration of new expressions of the faith.
4. Encourage a deepened prayer life.
5. Encourage study of the Bible.
The report then recommended
the development of small groups to carry out these steps.
“Perhaps the best vehicle for carrying out the steps described—and
for changing church life from the merely function to the transformational—are
small groups—groups that meet for Bible study, prayer, or special ministries.
…Small groups can meet the need to:
-
Become open and vulnerable to each other, to become healed.
-
Deepen one’s prayer life.
-
Study scriptures and to bring the Bible into one’s daily life in a meaningful
way.
-
Test one’s faith and to gain insight into such basic questions as: What
is my relationship to God? Who is Jesus Christ and what does He mean to
me?
-
Learn how to share one’s faith with others in the group.
-
Become equipped to reach out to others outside the group and share one’s
faith.
-
Become empowered for social service and outreach.”*
The Episcopal Church and
other mainline denominations are still in much the same situation
as when this survey was commissioned. Intentional cultivation of
small groups in our churches continues to be an underdeveloped resource
and training and supporting small group leaders is often a neglected or
haphazard process. There are various reasons for this failure of
potential. Among those reasons:
-
Many pastors do not feel personally or professionally equipped to develop
small groups.
-
Seminaries often do not instruct church leaders the theology, theory, and
practice of working with small groups.
-
Small groups might be viewed with suspicion as less subject to control
by the administrative and pastoral leadership of the church.
-
Small groups might be seen as ad
hoc entities and supplemental to the church rather than essential
to the experience of in-depth Christian community within the church.
-
There may be an over-reliance on Sunday worship as the catch all for the
spiritual needs of the congregation.
However small groups, as the
Gallup Organization notes, can be a tremendous source for community-building,
relational evangelism, spiritual companionship, peer pastoral support,
community service and outreach, and mature Christian formation in prayer,
scripture, and the spiritual disciplines, and more! Let’s remember
that Jesus worked intimately with a small group of disciples. Out
of that small group—with the power of the Spirit—great things happened.
Small groups make vital churches!
But to maximize the power
of small groups and build a church structure that effectively utilizes
the power of small groups takes vision, planning, commitment, and trained
leaders. There are training programs now available to address the
needs of small group leadership development for churches. Two of
these programs are offered through Lamb & Lion Spiritual Guidance Ministries
(one in partnership with the Institute of Spiriutal Companionship).
The Group Spiritual Companionship
Program (GSC) provides over 106 contact hours of instruction and practicum
experience for a weekly gathering of various leaders over a nine-month
period with a contemplative focus in spiritual small group and retreat
leadership. This program, in partnership with the Institute of Spiritual
Companionship, particularly appeals to those who are spiritual directors,
clergy, or others in charge of spiritual formation and guidance ministries
who are looking for a depth experience in community-building, and group
models that engage contemplative practices and mutual discernment. GSC
is available through the Institute of Spiritual Companionship to group
leaders in the metropolitan Chicago region. For more information
on this program contact Dan or look on the Institute of Spiritual Companionship
web site at http://www.iofsc.org.
The Small
Group Leadership Program (SGL) brings the training to the
church’s door in 36 contact hours of instruction (including practicum experience)
and coaching with a church’s (or group of churches) potential small group
leaders. This program has flexibility in addressing the particular
goals and needs of the local congregation in its small group development
interests. SGL is a portable program
capable of providing training to congregations beyond the metropolitan
Chicago region.
Daniel Prechtel, DMin
Lamb & Lion Spiritual Guidance Ministries
2337 Greenwich Rd.
San Pablo, CA 94806
Phone 224.636.2874
Email dprechtel@llministries.com
Web http://www.llministries.com
*The Spiritual Health of the Episcopal Church, conducted for The Episcopal
Church Center by The Gallup Organization, Inc., published by Episcopal
Parish Services, 1990. See pp. 15-18 for the full text of these recommendations.
Note also that The Gallup Organization conducted a broader survey in November
1991 on small groups in the religious and public sectors that showed the
importance of small groups in America. This second survey's results
are reported in I Come Away Stronger: How Small Groups are Shaping
American Religion, Robert Wuthnow, ed., Appendix: Small Groups—A National
Profile (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994).