LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Analysis Paper 2
Submitted to Dr. Rod Dempsey, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the completion of the course,
DSMN 630-B01
Small Group Ministries
by
Alex S. Bartee
January 27, 2020
Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………..…….………………3
Small Groups vs. Cliques……………………………………………………………………………3-
4
G.R.O.U.P. The Structure of a Functioning Small Group……………………………..…….
……4-5
Four Question Analysis……………………………………………………………………..
………..5-6
Inward, Upward, and Outward………………………………..
…………………………………….7
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………..8
2
Introduction
In our churches today something that you are going to see a lot of are a variety of
different kinds of “groups.” Jeffery Arnold says it this way in his book, The Big Book on Small
Groups, “Every person in your congregation is in at least one group, and these groups have
penetrated absolutely every aspect of the life of your churches, although you may not recognize
them by their most frequent name cliques.”1 Whether we want to believe it or not the church is
made up of different cliques and there might not be a way around that. These groups are going to
form no matter what you do with your small groups. “Humans have a sense of belonging for
survival, support, emotional strength, and stimulation.”2 Cliques and small groups are where
people will gravitate to in order to find these things. Some of the cliques that you will find are
maybe the MOPS moms, the singles, the worship band, or the long time attenders. These are
some of the cliques that we would see in our churches. The readings this week were taking a
look at cliques and comparing them to small groups. These are two very different things and we
1 Arnold Jeffery. The Big book on Small Groups, (Downers Grove, IL, Intervarsity Press, 2004)
9.
2 Ibid., 10
3
have to make sure we know the difference in order to be able to disciple both groups in the best
ways .
Small Groups vs. Cliques
According to Arnold, cliques are designed with the sole purpose for people to come
together with the intentions to stay together. Often times the cliques might have a sense of elitist
thinking and usually don’t have the whole church’s goals in mind but more often just thier own
goals. Cliques are usually pretty exclusive and because of this the growth of them is usually
pretty slow. For instance in order for you to be in the “MOPS clique” you would have to first join
the MOPS program and then you would be allowed in. Cliques are usually lead by one person or
just a few people that are looked at as seniority. Comisky said something interesting, “Jesus
freed us to serve not sit.”3 This is another area that cliques fall short. They are often times more
about serving themselves and the others in the clique than serving those that are not in the clique.
Small groups are structured very different and are a lot more inclusive. When we are
talking about a small group we are talking about a group were people come together with the
main goal of lifting each other up and growing their relationship with Christ. Small groups
usually operate a little more openly and it is usually encouraged to be sharing your faith and
bring people to the group to hear more about Christ. These groups often have a leader or two but
their role is not to dominate the conversation but often just ask questions and challenges to
promote thinking with this in the group. All people in the group are looked at more like equals.
Small groups are there to wrap their arms around the members when they need it but they are
3 Joel Comisky. http:///www.joelcomiskygroup.com/resorces/leadership_development/ed_every-
one.html Accessed January 27, 2020.
4
also there to wrap their arms around people that are not in the group if they need it also. They
are filled with people that are looking to serve more than just sit .
G.R.O.U.P. The Structure of a Functioning Small Group
Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey in their book, Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying
Small Groups, offer their readers a way to structure your small group using the acronym
G.R.O.U.P. What this acronym stands for is Guided by a leader, Regular meeting times, Open
God’s Word, United in service, Prayer for one another.4 One thing that is stressed is that a small
group can not function well without any of these 6 parts. At our church if we were to look at the
small groups that are doing best it is not a surprise that they are all groups that hold these six
things as important .
One of the biggest downfalls that we have seen in our small groups that are not doing
well is meeting consistency. This might not seem like a huge thing but the truth is that this is one
of the most important things. “Meeting weekly is the bare minimum to provide the right
environment for growth and development.”5 When we stop and think about this it does make
sense. The small groups that do well are the ones that meet consistently and the people in the
group are friends and are open with each other. When a group does not meet consistency the
chances that the people in the groups will be open are a lot lower, there is no trust there. Prayer is
also something that is often overlooked or looked down on but in actuality is very important. We
4 Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley. Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups.
(Lynchburg, VA: Liberty Press, 2015). 33.
5 Ibid., 32.
5
should be praying for each other consistently throughout the week if we want God to be
revealing himself to us in group .
Four Question Analysis
Q1. Are we introducing Christian disciples into our small groups?
I think that this is something that we are doing a decent job at. WE have a pretty active
small group program at our church and are always trying to plug new members into a group
when they tell us they are interested .
Q2. Are our small groupings building the kingdom or hindering the kingdom ?
I think this is a hard thing to say across the board for all of our small groups. I know that
there are some small groups that are doing great things and are for sure building the kingdom by
challenging each other to be brave and step out in faith. But I also know that there are some
small groups that are not doing as good of a job in this area. They are more of a clique than a
small group .
Q3. Are we training leaders who bring Christian disciples into small groupings ?
Yes we do have a training that our small group leaders go through in order for them to be
the best that they can be. This training is something that can always be improved on but there is
something in place .
Q4. Is our entire congregation working to develop a disciplined small group mentality ?
I think its going to be very hard to find a whole congregation that is working towards this.
6
I think it is a great goal to have but a tough one to achieve especially if you are in a bigger
church. Right now we have about 90% of our 1,000 regular attenders plugged into active small
groups. I would guess that about 60-70% of the 90% are working toward developing a more
disciplined small group with the goal of growing closer to Christ .
Inward, Upward, and Outward
Jeffery Arnold spends a lot of time talking about this idea of Inward, Outward,
and Upward as it applies to small groups as a whole. The idea of an inward group
dimension is to provide the love and care that the members need so that they are
able to then bear more fruit on their own. It is very hard to bear fruit when you are
in the slums or going through something hard. So the idea is that we have to have
a lot of inward care that aims to help the members in the small group and then send
them out into the community when they are in a healthy spot .
The upward dimension in a small group is when you are maturing the group
to care for each other. The overall goal of the small group is to grow in our
relationship with Christ. If we are not striving for that we are doing something very
wrong. “What makes a small group experience transforming is learning and
applying biblical truth.”6 Praying and opening up God’s Word together is going to
strengthen your group and allow you to do more for God’s kingdom .
6 Arnold Jeffery. The Big book on Small Groups, (Downers Grove, IL, Intervarsity Press, 2004)
33.
7
Lastly, the outward dimension of a group is when we take what we have
learned in our small group and go out into our communities and spread the name of
Christ. This is the evangelism or outreach step in small groups. Sadly, I think that
this is the step that is often forgotten about or neglected. They take care of their
members needs, they train them up in Gods word but then then stay in their group
and never make it out into the community. This last part is what we are called to do
by God and is known as the Great Commission .
Bibliography
Arnold, Jeffery. The Big Book on Small Groups. Downers Grove, IL: InterVArsity Press,
2004.
Comisky, Joel.
http:///www.joelcomiskygroup.com/resorces/leadership_development/ed_everyone.h
tml Accessed January 27, 2020.
Dempsey, Rod and Dave Earley. Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small
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