DSMN 630-B02
Small Group Ministries
Dr. Andy Gowins
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
Sabrina Mawyer
January 27, 2019
The Bible contains many passages that outline the necessity and importance of having a
small group ministry. These passages will aid in the understanding of how to properly set up
small groups and how to enable small groups with the equipment that is necessary to make
disciples.1 In order to properly understand small groups, it is necessary to refer to the Trinity.
God is a relational being and it stands to reason that He would want His people to engage in
community. Torrance notes that “the doctrine of the Trinity is foundational to Christianity,
defines who we worship and serve, while guiding the church to practice love, care and unity.”2
One of the Biblical passages that helps us to understand small groups is found in
Matthew where Jesus tells us of the Great Commandment. Jesus consolidates the religious laws
into two ideas that are at the forefront of small group ministry. These ideas are to love God and
to love others as ourselves. The love of God can be demonstrated in a multitude of ways.
Worship, prayer and reading God’s Word are ways to love God. Small groups must have love for
each other in order to thrive. In a small group setting, the members read and study God’s Word.
Also, the members of the small group will go through life together. They will share the joys and
trials of life in a safe intimate place.
The Great Commission is particularly applicable to small groups. Jesus Himself had his
own small group of disciples. Jesus discipled the twelve and sent them out to make more
disciples. In the small group setting, there are ample opportunities for discipleship. The church
can be a vast and lonely place for the new believer. It is essential that small groups are available
1 Rod Dempsey. (2015). Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups, 1st Edition. [MBS
Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/MBS1867516/
2 Thomas F. Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T
Clark,1996), 2.
to welcome new people into a small family that will love them and walk with them through this
life. Small groups typically have a family-like atmosphere. This family atmosphere lends itself to
people sharing stories about their pasts, their struggles and their joys. A small group is a safe
place for people to connect. The small groups allow for deeper relationships which are necessary
for accountability and growth.3 Disciples are made in small groups because the members spend
immeasurable time together and in prayer for each other.
The book of Acts provides believers with an image of what the church should look like.
The first two chapters in Acts shows believers how they are to meet. When Jesus was on the
earth, believers met in small groups in someone’s home. The church consisted of several clusters
of small groups coming together in a larger assembly to worship. Christians meeting in
fellowship with one another experience joy and find favor with one another.4 In essence, the
heart of the church is found within the small group. These passages show believers how an
effective church should function.
Ephesians 1 describes what the body of Christ looks like in this world. The body of
Christ will not function properly without the existence of thriving small groups. As churches get
bigger, they must get smaller in order to keep growing. Believers need an intimate setting in
order to understand their spiritual gifts and to find a place to use them.
3 Joel Comiskey, Biblical Foundations For The Cell-Based Church: New Testament Insights for the
21st Century (Moreno Valley, CA: CCS Publishing, 2012), 39.
4 Darrell L. Bock, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Acts (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2007), 155.
Ephesians 4 describes the different parts of the body of Christ and how it all works
together. This shows us how the small group is made up of individuals who together make up a
perfectly functioning body of Christ.
The church that I am a member of is best defined as belonging to the hybrid model. My
church is led by the pastor and has a board of elders who lead the church together. The church
has one main campus, a fair amount of community activity and broadcasts one service over
Facebook. My church can appear to be very complex to newcomers. There are multiple
ministries and each ministry has its own leader which can make it difficult to know where to
begin. New members are often overwhelmed when it comes to how to get plugged in. My church
is not intensely focused on evangelism. The church is focused more on what they can offer
community members and the Sunday messages.
Discipleship classes exist but they are in essence more like regular Sunday School
classes. There is no coordination of true discipleship or mentoring. My church has “of” small
groups. This type of small group will be detailed in the next section; however, this model fits in
with the hybrid church structure. Change is not something that my church cares for. There are
certain standards that the pastor and elders have and they hesitate to deviate from those
standards. Well that can be good, people in the church have left leadership roles because they
were not being taken seriously. There are no classes that both discover the believer’s spiritual
gifts and tell the believer where they can use them within the church. My church supports a
variety of ministry organizations and regularly sends short term missionaries abroad through
these organizations. Several church plants have evolved from my home church. The heart of my
church is in the right place but my church is very complex for newcomers. It is essential that
small groups be established in order to build authentic relationships. My church is a good
example of the hybrid church model.
My church consists of the “of” small groups model with some of the “is” model. A
church that has successful small groups is typically an “is” church. Leaders in my church begin
the organization of small groups. The church provides some training on how a small group
should operate. Groups are expected to go back to their neighborhood to continue the small
group. The goal of an “of” small group is to preach the gospel and make disciples. My church
emphasizes that we are to make disciples. My pastor preaches exegetically as he goes through
one book of the Bible at a time. My church holds classes on discipleship but has not figured out
how to continue that discipleship once the classes end. My church does not invest in seeing that
discipleship relationships are formed and that they continue to grow. Church members are left to
their own devices which can be detrimental if the member is a new believer. The church lacks a
focus on corporate prayer. My church offers classes on leadership but all of these classes focus
on how this benefits the church. The focus should instead be on how these leadership skills can
be put to use out in the community. My church does hold big community events on the church
grounds on certain holidays. The church has a huge Easter egg hunt and a large Fall Festival.
These events attract a lot of people but it is difficult to say how many new attendees they bring
in. Overall, my church fits with the “of” model.
Bibliography
Bock Darrell L. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Acts (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic, 2007.
Comiskey, Joel. Biblical Foundations For The Cell-Based Church: New Testament Insights for
the 21st Century Church. Moreno Valley, CA: CCS Publishing, 2012.
Dempsey, Rod. Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups, 1st Edition. [MBS
Direct]. 2015. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/MBS1867516/
Torrance, Thomas F. The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons (Edinburgh,
Scotland: T&T Clark, 1996.
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