Why I Still Believe in Small Groups!

I am on several church leadership mailing lists. This past week I read a great article by Craig Groeschel entitled, “Why I Still Believe in Small Groups.” Craig lists nine reasons he loves small groups, some of which we will talk about in a bit. He begins the article by saying that several of his pastor friends have recently spoken out against the effectiveness of small groups. Although he respects these individuals, he disagrees with their opinions about small groups.

I love to hear Groeschel speak or to read his writings. If you are not familiar with Craig Groeschel, he is a pastor, author, and leadership enthusiast. His church, Life.Church, grew from a handful of believers meeting in a two-car garage in Oklahoma City to one of the largest Protestant churches in the United States with 44 locations and an incredibly strong online presence.

Groeschel is also the host of a leadership podcast. His church has also marketed the YouVersion Bible app, which has been downloaded over 500 million times.

Groeschel is a good preacher and speaker – there is a difference, you know. A good preacher rightly handles God’s Word by communicating its truth to his listeners. Not every preacher does that faithfully or well. A good speaker knows how to communicate by engaging the audience in the communication process. Not every speaker does that well. Groeschel is adept at both. His message is worth hearing.

He includes in his reasons for supporting small groups the fact they follow the early church model of meeting in homes, they are a tremendous tool for discipleship, and when done well, they become a tool for retention. All nine of his reasons carry weight and value.

I am a member of several small groups at my church and a couple outside the congregation where I attend. Every day my cell phone and email light up with prayer requests and people celebrating and enduring life together. The small group properly defines biblical fellowship and ministry on many levels.

Small groups operate best when they focus on fellowship and ministry. A focused purpose brings people together and bonds them. If our small group is going to clean the outside grounds of Widow Smith’s house, the ministry and work blesses Widow Smith and bonds the group members because of sacrifice, kindness, and love.

But unless someone in the group has the background and preparation to both preach and teach – to share God’s Word faithfully and accurately and to communicate it in a way that engages the audience – the group devolves and is sometimes divisive when it forces itself to study Scripture.

Here are a handful of things that usually happen during a small group “study.” Try to avoid these pitfalls whenever possible. If no one in the group is a gifted teacher and student of the Word, limit the “spiritual” part of your time together to prayer and a short devotional thought.

• Watching a video or reading a popular author’s book together is not Bible study. There’s nothing wrong with doing those things, but it isn’t teaching. You cannot interact with a video. You cannot ask questions of a book. Watch the video, even comment to each other about things you thought were helpful to you, but understand the limits of videos.
  • Let me give you an example. Let’s say I take my family to see the latest Marvel superhero movie. We watch the movie and afterward talk about what we liked in the movie. But if I want to know more about the characters or the writers or how the movie was put together, I need to hear from an expert not the opinions of the members of my family. None of my family is knowledgeable of those details.
• Having everyone in the circle “read” a verse from the Bible is not Bible study. It is also not a good method of teaching. It does not engage the audience in the communication process. Let’s face it, not all of us are good readers.
  • If the reader is slower than my brain processes words, or if the reader stumbles over pronunciation, my brain races ahead and then disengages. Making everyone read shipwrecks the communication process and probably embarrasses those who are not gifted readers.
  • If we were assigned to prepare for the small group by reading the first chapter of Matthew, and then all we do is “re-read” the passage together, what was my purpose in preparing ahead of time? Don’t insult my intelligence just because some of the members of the group may not have come to the group prepared.
• Asking everyone, “What does this verse mean to you?” is not Bible study. Unless you have studied the passage – historical setting, background, theology, read commentaries and books on the passage – then all you are doing is speaking off the cuff.
  • Opinion matters in a number of things. If we are talking about the verse, “Pray without ceasing,” everyone can share about how they attempt to “do” that. We can talk about how we apply Christian principles to everyday circumstances in life. Your opinion matters on that.
  • But if we are talking about what the word “propitiation” means or the historical setting of a passage, no offense, but I don’t care what you think it means unless you have studied the passage ahead of time. Otherwise we are just sharing our ignorance – which can not only be frustrating, it can foster false teaching.
• Finally, remember that the frequency of your meetings (and the regularity of attendance) is not conducive for Bible study. If your group meets twice a month and you always have half the group missing once a month, there are several roadblocks to the process of teaching.
  • Even if everyone is present, you will have to refresh everyone on what you have been studying. If several people have missed, it will be next to impossible to catch everyone up.
  • The length of the book can be a devastating factor. It is one thing to go through the book of 1 John, but Genesis or 1 Corinthians?
  • Continuity is so important in teaching. It is almost impossible to build continuity into our current small group structure. It is difficult enough to do that through Sunday sermons or Sunday School classes.

Small groups can be an effective tool for performing ministry or for building fellowship and loyalty to a congregation. It provides engagement and accountability. It pastors and disciples individuals.

But don’t expect a small group to guide your Bible study or improve your biblical knowledge unless someone in the group is both gifted and prepared to rightly divide the Word of God to the group.