In the next couple of posts you’ll read about what I believe to be the foundation for every healthy, growing church around the globe. There is not enough space here to give anything except a snapshot of this principle foundation of a healthy, growing church.

This principle foundation is offering to members and guests alike a place to study God’s word for His truths to assist each person in daily living. There is a difference between open and closed small groups for Bible study. An open group – which is the basis for this set of articles – is a group (preferably of 15 or less) of people gathering on a regular basis to engage in Bible study to gain a joyful and abundant life with lasting satisfaction. Small Bible study groups also assist people by providing a natural channel to build relationships with each other. I will not go into the mechanics of small group Bible study (this term is interchangeable with Sunday School or your preference of titles). Rather we will address various factors of two principles for developing a healthy growing small group Bible study organization for your church. The first is passion.

PASSION

Passion for biblical equipping

Your church leaders must have a passion for teaching and equipping people with knowledge and wisdom of Bible truths and how the truths of scripture apply to our lives today. Teaching in the biblical sense is more than dispensing knowledge. Teaching the way Jesus taught and the way we are instructed to teach is the act of causing someone to learn or to accept something. In the book Teaching That Bears Fruit, I referenced the definition for the words “teach” and the Greek word for teach “didasko.” The italicized and underlined phrase above is the combination of the two definitions. The definition for both of these words uses the word “cause.” The definition of the word cause is something that produces an effect, result, or consequence.”

In teaching of biblical truth, our aim is to produce life changing results or to bring about a life changing effect in our own life as well as the lives of our learners. Dispensing knowledge may produce biblical trivia buffs but it will not produce life changing learning. The Bible was not given to us for information but for transformation. We are to use our time in Bible study to produce life changing learning in the lives of our listeners. While there is a place for individual Bible study, it cannot take the place of studying with a small group of individuals learning together. You’ll learn more studying in a small group of six to twelve than you will ever learn on your own or in a larger group.

Passion for community

Your church leaders must have a passion for community. Community is a group of people with a common background or with shared interests within society. Open small groups participating in Bible study permit people to join the group at any time without feeling lost or out of place. Thus building community among all involved in the Bible study group is imperative.

There are at least two ways to close a group. One is to study the Bible using material or curriculum with a format for sessions building upon previous sessions. It is difficult for a person to join the group after the first session as he/she will be behind in the shared learning experience. In open groups the material may be related to previous sessions but not built upon the premise of having to have studied the previous session to gain from the current study session.

The second way to close a group is to put up relational barriers. This is all too common in many existing classes in churches today. Because a group may have been together for several years, they tend to forget what it is like to be new in the group. We become so engaged in our own relationships and interactions that we neglect to truly include the newcomer or guest. This is to the detriment of newcomers becoming an active part of our small group. Though our words to the newcomer are often, “We welcome you,” our actions speak much louder than our words, and newcomers seldom break through to become “insiders.” In case you have not noticed, outsiders do not stay around very long.

Studying together in a small group fosters relationship building and community among the participants. As we spend more time together, our friendships grow and we bond over common issues and struggles studied in our small group. As we grow together, we spend more of our lives together. Not only our stories, but sharing our time and talents as well assists in building community with those in our small group. As long as we work to keep our group open, we can not only grow in community; we will also grow our community with newcomers.

In the next post we will look at two additional passions that will enable your church and small groups to be effective in reaching and growing.

You can find more information on passion for biblical equipping in Teaching That Bears Fruit and Reaching the Summit: Avoiding and Reversing Decline in the Church.

For more information on Passion for Community in Reaching the Summit or contact George Yates at SonC.A.R.E. Ministries