“Then these people starting writing books and hosting seminars. And then church leaders like you and me bought into what they were saying because we didn’t recognize that the same faulty worldview that produced a mechanized approach to Christian community fostered a ready-made market in our hearts to consume their quick-fix solutions.”
*Brian Jones
To Read the rest of his article go here
The blog by Brian Jones is an interesting perspective that I believe will definitely provoke good discussion. But I do believe that saying we should euthanize the role of small groups in our churches is sensationalism at its finest. The structure of small groups within the context of the local church have impacted many lives, provided much needed Christ-like care and encouragement, and in many cases became an entry point for Christians to be transformed into passionate and obedient followers of Christ. So for me the idea to throw out the baby with the bath water is a stretch. Now I do agree with Mr. Jones in the sense that Evangelicals have jumped on this structure to be the cure all for spiritual health, spiritual growth, and community. Like all things—something good led out by those who have ulterior, selfish, and lazy motives will lead to an impotent and lifeless end. And I think much of the frustration that we feel towards any structure that “ensures” spiritual growth is that we’ve seen Christian leaders who manipulate and use it for their own name and church not for Christ’s name and His Church. But we can’t allow those observations to skew the reality of life-change and transformation that is happening within many small groups across the country.
Personally, I do think we’d like to think that spiritual transformation could optimally happen within one structure and context. But I believe that someone becoming like Christ is going to be transformed into His likeness through many avenues, structures, and experiences. Small groups may be one of them—a Sunday morning Bible study may be one of them—a men’s retreat may be one of them—becoming like Christ is a very blurry and unpredictable thing to pin point. And because of that it does make us as leaders; vulnerable, fearful, powerless, and God-reliant. And for whatever reason, that’s a place most of us don’t like being in, but it’s the very place where God wants us---humble and reliant.
There is nothing that we do that can replace the powerful, life-giving Spirit of God. And it is very easy to rely on the structures that we construct to produce results that may be shallow and unstable. But I do think a selected structure can coexist with the mighty Spirit of God at the core and freely moving. In Acts 6 we see the disciples who had to resort to creating a structure to meet the needs of the widows and to execute the daily distribution of food. With their leadership they developed a plan with the agreement of the Holy Spirit and reflect the heart of God to those in need.
Those of us who are pursuing Jesus need to be in community, we need to be growing in our understanding, knowledge, and application of the Word of God. Wherever and however this happens doesn’t really matter as long as these things are being weaved into a believer’s life. But as a leader this doesn’t give me the freedom to neglect my gift of leadership, become passive, and to not create environments where individuals can encounter Christ—that’s negligence.
*Jeff Henson
3 comments:
Could it not be said that small groups along with many other avenues of connection both with people and with God is a particular movement in history that the Holy Spirit is directly involved in activating amongst our churches. According to Brians blog, he seems to leave out the possibility of the Holy Spirit being able to work because men are involved. I concede that we do mess things up often, but as I look into history, since the very beginning, this has been the case.
Isn't it also accurate to say that many times God uses men to accomplish his work, not because he has to, but because he wants to.
Brian is correct to say that the intentions of some men may be corrupt, but this does not diminish the fact that lives are being changed in the world right now because of the churches recent cultural shift to being involved in eachothers lives and deepening their relationships with Him as a part of mostly well-intentioned strategy to do so. As I look at the scripture, that is what Christ told us to do. "Love God, Love People!" It makes sense to do this together!
Furthermore, to say that we should "euthanize" the small group structure in the western hemisphere is not only an extreme statement, but possibly another way that man could mess up something the God is doing for his Kingdom.
While I don't think small groups should be systematically destroyed in every single church, I can sympathize with Brian. It sucks when churches try to package a product and sell it to the people. It never works. I call it the John Maxwell philosophy. If you just visionate, mobilize, plan, recruit, strategize, and countless other clichés, it will work.
Here's an example. I was discussing with a good friend not so long ago about a jr. high after school program I attempted once. When I was just starting out in the ministry, my pastor at the time "made" me do a jr. high after school "thing"... because some other really cool church was doing it, and it was working for them. So naturally it would work for us, right? I had no vision or heart for such a thing. Honestly I was completely unmotivated to make the whole thing happen. So I planned (barely) and researched (not really) just to see the whole thing fail horribly.
Now, was I young and had no idea what I was doing? Yes. Did I show a huge lack of leadership skills? Of course. The point is... God wasn't in it. At least not from my perspective. We were attempting to do something, someone else was doing, where God was in it. I hope that makes sense.
I know small groups are powerful for a lot of people and churches, but it's only when God is behind it, that anything will be life changing. (John 15:5). Is it our job as leaders to create opportunities for people to encounter God? Absolutely! If we are leaders who run after Jesus, then people will encounter Him when they are around us. However, there is something to be said about spontaneity. Those unplanned moments when people encounter God in a very real way. For example, when a student comes up to me and says “Sweet we need to talk.” I know God is up to something.
By the way, I can blame Jeff for the whole jr. high failure… because he was doing something creative.
Thank you for balancing and completing my comments Sweetman!The obvious had been understated! If God isn't in it, throw it out. I can only speak from my personal experience... God is using the breakdown into a smaller group format to do some much needed things in my transitioning church. From breaking the small-church mindset to engaging people into outreach, God's movement in our church through small groups has been effective.
Oh, and I think I remember a talk very similar to that one just not too long ago Sweet.
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