I’ve heard many people say, “We haven’t been able to make small groups work at our church.” This is very disappointing to me because there is a huge blessing in group life. I could write a book of ways to get groups off the ground based on the mistakes we made and things we did right, but before there are “How To’s” there has to be a “Why?”

The “Why?” cannot be because they are trendy right now. We all know what happens to trendy things: synthesizer music, big hair, leg warmers (Ok so sometimes they come back in, but there is a time when NO ONE would be caught dead with any of these trendy things because they are OUT of style, or out of date.

There was actually more than one “Why?” for us and there are probably more than these.

1. We did not want another program. We do not run programs well. What we have found is that after the novelty wears off, the program is finished. Also a program has a start date and an end date. For us group life is a value based lifestyle. We do not have a small group ministry; we have small groups. It is not one program in a list of 10, but a way to convey values that affect how people live as Christians. Group life is dynamic it is constantly changing and developing. I get bored easily so things have to keep moving and be continually challenging. You may be saying, “How can I be anymore challenged! I already work 60 hrs a week!” Well, that is “Why?” number two…
    
2. We needed something that was easier to maintain. In order to run a top-notch program you need top-notch everything – leaders, materials, facilities, etc. However, small groups are not a program for us. The only thing that we do need is top-notch leaders. What makes them top-notch is not how long they’ve been a Christian, or how much Bible study they have done, but it is their passion for the Kingdom of God and the integrity of their lives. In our community, people are coming to the Lord because they want what these leaders have. Their day-to-day example is all we need. Without them, small groups cannot exist. My job is to work with these leaders to help them fulfill their vision. (This, as an equipper, is the greatest joy!). So instead of working with 100 people, I work with 10! In this way, I can make a better investment. Can challenging and relaxing describe the same thing? I think so.
    
3. We wanted something that was well rounded and included all of the values of River Valley Wesleyan in one shot. Relationship, Value, Worship, Community, Servanthood, and Evangelism. All of these are present in the groups and must be in balance in order to make well rounded disciples. Why waste time and energy on having a program for each thing. People do not have time to give to ten different things. We wanted people to be out in the community as witnesses so we couldn’t ask them to be helping at the church building every night. We needed to get the biggest bang for our buck (err..I mean time, manpower, and …yeah ….ok… buck too if we are going to be good stewards).

There is so much more to say, but I know that I don’t read long essays and you might not either so let me sum up the joys of group life.

• The joys of group life come when your leaders are really concerned about the people they shepherd and are asking God and each other (not the pastor!) how to help them.
• When your leaders are interested in reaching new people and helping them come to Christ.
• When people attribute miracles and victories to their group praying for them.
• When people who have been outside the door and unreachable to the pastors somehow end up in church and then you find out that they have been attending a group for the last two months.
• When groups spontaneously get together on a hot summer evening and go to the beach and bring their friends and then someone says they want to be baptized and you baptize them right there on the spot.
• When people have been attending a group and realize that they don’t feel right about living together anymore and feel that they should get married in order to be right with the Lord and you marry them in the gathering on Sunday morning.

This is just a little bit of what we have seen this year which statistics will never do justice to. It took 6 years to get to this point but it can happen if we don’t give up.