Confessions Of A Small Group Leader - An Informal Institution

Here is another interesting section from Joe's article. Lets see what we can learn...

An Informal Institution

The nonchurchy, spontaneous atmosphere of our group was its most basic appeal. It was my fault we lost it. In an effort to develop cohesion and identity, we developed too many trappings of an institution.

One of my early mistakes was bringing in outside speakers once a month. I thought it would give us access to the best possible teaching. But attendance dropped on those nights, the group voting their disapproval by their absence. Those who came were hesitant to open up with questions or comments.

Another mistake was trying to give the group a name. Being identified with a catchy name and logo would draw us closer, I thought, but the group saw the innovation as churchiness. They continued to call our group simply "the Bible study."

The whole group was at fault for yet another feature: we behaved like jealous lovers when one of our number left for another activity or ministry. The heart of institutionalism is demanding self-interested loyalty, which should never characterize Christians, whose only justifiable loyalty is their allegiance to Christ. We would never say so, but we began feeling ours was the best, if not the only, game in town. We forgot our purposes of discipleship, evangelism, and Bible knowledge. We just wanted to preserve our group.

We even had a liturgy of sorts. We ate junk food at a certain time, prayed at a certain time, shared, and of course, I taught—all in proper order. We lost our initial spontaneity and became so rigid that visitors felt like outsiders and didn't come back. We no longer offered the cozy supplement to the church; we had become our own church.

I can't say that I understand this one. In my humble opinion, if Joe's started his group the way he ended this article, there is a fundamental problem. When small groups are effective they are not simply a supplement to church. They are the core of your church. As I state in my blog description at the top of this page, "Small Groups are where life and discipleship meet." This is so important! I was having a discussion with the Senior Pastor of our church, Brian Jones, about this. Real discipleship does not happen on Sunday morning. NOTE: I AM NOT SAYING THE TEACHING AT OUR WEEKLY SERVICES IS NOT IMPORTANT.

These weekly teaching moments are very important. But sermons are a starting point and should work in unison with our small groups. Our weekly services should be a springboard that we can use to encourage life application. But that life application doesn't happen sitting in a pew or seat at a weekly service. It happens in our relationships with other Christians who get in our face and ask us the hard questions. Hopefully we can avoid Joe's mistake and learn from his experience.