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Writting assignment 5 Philosphy of Small
Groups
Discipleship Ministries (Liberty University)
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY
Philosophy of Small Groups
Submitted to Dr. Rick Garner
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500-B12
Discipleship Ministries
by
Kenneth Bass
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Philosophy of Small Groups............................................................................................................4
Small Groups are Relational............................................................................................................5
Missional Small Groups..................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The world around us seems to be falling apart day by day. There are natural disasters,
diseases, starvation, human trafficking and more. It is no wonder people are afraid of what the
future holds, thinking there is no hope. Christians live their lives telling people there is hope, but
they themselves are going through pain and suffering on a daily basis because of the conditions
of the world. This brings up the question, “How can Christians go through suffering and pain
and proclaim there is hope?”
The call to all Christians from the Bible is to go out and share the hope they have in
Christ. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to
give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”1 When a person
put their faith in Christ, their eternal future is secured and it comes with a promise there will be
no more pain or suffering, but according to Revelation 21:4, that is not until they reach Heaven.
The Bible does not leave the Christian hopeless. It states a guarantee they will not walk through
suffering and pain, alone. Christians are to put their faith in God and know He will comfort them
through times of suffering and pain. A Christian’s faith is not in the belief that they will not go
through any more suffering or pain, but that their faith in God will get them through it.
God promises He will never forsake the believer and they will walk through life together,
but how does that look in the twenty first century, when there is pain and suffering all around?
One of the ways this is accomplished is through the church. Gilbert Bilezikian states, “For the
church to develop and maintain oneness is not a take-it-or-leave-it option. It is a priority and a
mandate.”2 God promises a believer they will not walk alone and to be strong and
courageous.
1Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
2 Gilbert G. Bilezikian, Community 101: Reclaiming the Church as Community of Oneness (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 52.
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Joshua 1:9 “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or
discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” God will not leave the
believer alone. Why then, do so many believers feel all alone when dealing with suffering and
pain in such a digitally connected world they live in?
Philosophy of Small Groups
God’s word says multiple times, He is with us wherever we go. When pain and suffering
is present, how does a believer stay strong and connected? Bilezikian states, “it should become
obvious that the primary application of the biblical mandate for communal life can only take
place in a context of closeness and togetherness. Necessarily, this spells small groups.”3 One of
the ways believers feel the presence of the Lord during times of pain and suffering is through the
oneness that comes from the body of believers. When it comes to the community of the church,
most people think of the community only on Sunday mornings when everyone gathers together
to worship God as a body. Large groups setting like Sunday mornings are hard places to feel
connected. As Grant Edwards states, “Small groups are where we make connections, learn
names, focus on faces, and tell our stories.”4 It is in a small setting a person can grow in their
faith, hope and love by fellowshipping with other believers. The large group meeting at the
church is a chance to be encouraged, inspired, and educated, but it is not intimate fellowship.
“Meeting a hundred people with a handshake doesn’t allow faith, hope or love to develop.”5
For there to be any real connection to happen to help a believer through hard times or
good times, there has to be a personal connection made. Small groups are a place in which real
relationships happens. It is a place for believers to grow in their faith, know there is hope in the
3 Bilezikian, Community 101, 54.
4 Grant Edwards, Swimming + Lessons: How to Keep New Christians Afloat in a Sinking World
(USA: Specificity Publications, 2010),116
5 Ibid.,117.
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fallen world around them, and feel the love of God. It is where believers do life together. This is
where they studying the bible together, have communion together, fellowship, minister to one
another, and reach out to a lost world together.
Simply stated small groups are a place where people can come to receive encouragement,
love and leave with a hope talked about in the Bible. Small groups are where people can be held
accountable and have a shepherd lead them by example. It is where they receive teaching from
God’s word to help them grow. Small groups are the backbone for discipleship within the
church.6
Small Groups are Relational
Walking through this world feeling alone is a dangerous place to be. The world we live
in offers enough of its own difficulties daily, when you add loneliness it is a formula for death.
God never intended for anyone to walk through life alone. He intended for each other to
supported by one another. Worldly issues and personal issues can put a wedge between
relationships causing a feeling of aloneness. This is why God intended for mankind to have
relationships. The first and most important relationship is with God, then those God has put
around you. To have a true relationship there must be time spent together so there is time to
learn to love one another. The best way to love one another is within a smaller, intimate
gathering of believers, which are small groups.7
Small groups are a place where relationships are built. It is a place where authentic
relationships are built but it goes further than that. In small groups disciples are made out of the
6 Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington, Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples, Exponential Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013),186-192.
7 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is …: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence, 278.
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relationships. It starts with having a clear purpose for meeting. The key to having a successful
small group is having an encouraging discipleship plan in place.8
Small group discipleship starts with having a shepherd leader who understands the
importance of shepherding the group. He is one who models a Christ like life and creates an
environment where people in the group can shepherd one another. So often people in small
groups are overcome by life itself and need help. Small group is a place where they are reminded
of the ways God provided in the past and can get encouragement from others to push on. It is a
place where others can share how they overcame summary problems. It is a place where the
group can pray for those who are sick and seek out ways to serve them during their sickness. It is
a place where everyone can be held accountable for the life they are living. If they start to drift
away from a Christ like lifestyle they can be gently pushed back on track, or knocked back on
track.9
The way a person is held accountable or helped back on track is by studying the Word of
God each time the group meets. By studying the bible weekly together it allows time for
questions and answers and modeling what the groups is learning. While this is going on, it is the
shepherd leader’s job to lead the people in the group to Christ, to have them abide in Christ and
in His Word daily.10 In the group teaching them whatever is in Christ is no longer under the
dominion of the world, of sin, or of the law and it has lost its binding force over the believer is
important.11 Relational groups are where the true model of discipleship happens and disciples are
reproducing.
8 Putman and Harrrington, Discipleshit, 186.
9 Ibid., 186-188.
10 Ibid., 191.
11 Dietrich, Bonhoeffer, and Et Al. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4, Discipleship. (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1996). 236.
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Missional Small Groups
If a small group stays connected and growing it will not be able to contain what is going
on within the group. It will have a desire to share what is happening within the group to the
world around them who is looking for hope in a hopeless world. Matthew 28:19-20 tells the
believers to “God, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have
commanded you…” This can only be done when a person is learning the commands and then
modeling them to those God has put into their lives.
A small group becomes missional when the shepherd leader intentionally creates an
environment where the group is challenged to go out and share what they are learning. A way for
this to happen is to have a plan in place to continually remind the group about the lost world
outside the group. God’s way of reaching the world has always been through a blessing strategy,
Genesis 12:2-3, “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name
great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat
you with contempt, and all the people on earth will be blessed through you.”
The shepherd leader needs to remind the group they need to go out and be a blessing to
those God has put in their life. The way this can be done is by teaching the group the BLESS
practices. “B”, begin praying for five people by name who are lost. “L”, listen for struggles and
pain those five people are going through in life. “E”, engage them in some way to hear what their
hurts are. “S”, serve them in their needs and “S”, share the gospel with them. One of these
missional practices should happen every day. Then when the group meets back each week a
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report can be shared about which practice was shared and the results. The question can be asked
each week, who did you bless this week and how?12
The bless practice is something I am trying to implement not only into my personal small
group, but all small group at the church I attend. I feel to be a missional small group there must
be intentionality and a plan in place to help. The key to this practice working is the senior Pastor
of the church living it out and preaching about it each week along with the small group leader
holding everyone accountable to do their part.
Conclusion
God promises He will never leave or forsake the believer, but some many believers live
their lives feeling like they are all alone. The pain and suffering they are experiencing only help
the feeling they are alone have a big grip on their life. The church mandate to maintain an
oneness is something that needs to be taken serious within the church. The question, why do so
many believers feel alone in such a digitally connected world, is an easy one to answer. They are
not connected into a small group of believers who are making disciples. God uses those who
have put their faith in Him to reach out to their brothers and sisters in Christ during those times
of pain and suffering. God’s promise is true He will never leave or forsake the believer, but the
believer can walk away from one of the ways God reaches out, that is through small groups.
Bibliography
12 Dave, Ferguson and Geoff Surratt, Discover Your Mission Now! Five Simple Practices to Change
Your World. accessed October 1, 2014. http://blog.expoential.org/2013/06/free-discipleship-ebooks-from-dave-
ferguson- geoff-surratt/.
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Bilezikian, Gilbert G. Community 101: Reclaiming the Church as Community of Oneness. Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. And Et Al. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volume 4, Discipleship.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is--: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Avademic, 2013.
Edwards, Grant. Swimming + Lessons: How to Keep New Christians Afloat in a Sinking World.
USA: Specificity Publications, 2010.
Ferguson, Dave and Geoff Surratt, Discover Your Mission Now! Five Simple Practices to
Change Your World. accessed October 1, 2014.
http://blog.expoential.org/2013/06/free- discipleship-ebooks-from-dave-ferguson-
geoff-surratt/.
Putman, Jim, and Bobby Harrington. Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples. Exponential Series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
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