A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way.
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| Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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Friday, July 16, 2004 On Small GroupsRecently I picked up a copy of Joe Myers' book The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community and Small Groups. This is a book I've been meaning to get my hands around for awhile now but academic purchases have precluded my purchasing it.  I read through some of the chapters and must say I think Joe has it nailed. Small groups, though a noble and valiant effort, don't work because we in the church are attempting to get a group of strangers to pursue intimate spiritual, emotional relationships. This last semester I participated in the small groups for a college ministry of a church in the area and found that the small group ended up not being what they advertised, but turned into a Bible study time. This was certainly time well spent, yet I noticed that the goal for the small groups (that is to establish intimate relationships with the members of the group) was never truly met while in the context of one of our Sunday meetings.
I thought about this for some time and came to the conclusion it was because while we saw each other weekly, sometimes several times a week, we were still strangers to each other in many ways. Now I can tell you the names and some background details of the members of my group, but I can not tell you intimate details of their lives. Certainly the same could be said about the other members' knowledge of me. While we had excellent times of ministry and discussion it was interesting that few true spiritual concerns would be brought up during the course of the small group time; rather that I (or another leader of the group) would be pulled to the side afterwards and spoken to be someone. Public, and even semi-public gatherings are still intimidating for many people in our churches and communities. It is hard to bare one's soul before a group of four or more people because we as a society don't trust people to that level. Now I have several people in life with whom I can, and have, shared initimate details about my personal struggles and concerns. This group extends to three people currently and it has been the same three people for some good amount of time now. It is an interesting quagmire for the group leader(s) in a small group format. How can we be a close, bonded community of fellow believers without stepping on the toes of anyone or pushing too hard, too fast for that community feel. I personally believe, and will probably have my thoughts edified by Joe's book as I work through it, that the best paradigm for small groups is a time of Bible study and close reflection. We can do some things as a group to help draw others into the community and to draw closer to each other, but within the context of the semi-public meeting space we can only hope for a "spiritual arm's length" distance between most of our participants. While I don't think small groups should be done away with, I believe there is a more effective way of doing them than mashing people together in some ill-fated attempt for spiritual intimacy and solevency. I'll have to sit and think about this one for awhile. posted by Preachin Jesus | 1:50 PM | |
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