LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Analysis Paper #1
Submitted to Dr. Rick Garner,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 630 – B02
Small Group Ministries
by
Justin Bickmore
January 29, 2017
Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................1
Biblical Basis for Small Groups....................................................................................................1
Passages in Scripture............................................................................................................2
Church and Small Group Structure.............................................................................................3
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................4
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction
The church as a whole is at a place in today’s world that is crying out for something more
in terms of relational experience. So many people are merely checking the box that is church
attendance and nothing more. People are filling churches but accomplishing little more than
garnering perfect attendance. “The sin that disintegrates our communities and alienates us from
one another is what put Jesus on the cross.” 1 This is a huge problem that many churches are
beginning to combat with a small group ministry of some sort. The purpose behind each group is
designed to develop relationships among Christian people that will allow them to draw strength
from God through each other. There is a level of accountability to each other that causes a sense
of ownership and brotherhood between each other. There is now dedicated prayer partners
among each other to guide and love each other. The entirety of the small group ministry is to
emulate and replicate the model that Jesus Himself put on display for us through his relationships
that he developed and strengthened with His disciples. Christ was deliberate in His efforts to
pour His life into the disciples in preparation to one day send them, in His place and in His name,
to reach a lost and dying world.
Biblical Basis for Small Groups
The Biblical basis for small groups is inherent in the very nature of God Himself. “The
Trinity dwells in perfect unity and community.”2 The very being of God is in community with
Himself and thus portrays a model that it is necessary for the world to also live in community
with each other. Further, God does not exist only for Himself but out of His love for humanity
1 Brad House, Community: Taking Your Small Group Off Life Support (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011),
32.
2 Joel Comiskey, Biblical Foundations for the Cell-Based Church (Moreno Valley, CA: CCS Publishing,
2012), 43.
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he makes Himself available to mankind. Thankfully God knew what He was doing when he left
the world the model that they must follow in order to successfully disciple His people and to
reach the lost for the cause of Christ. The Bible is full of passages that point in the direction of a
small group element that is essential in the lives of Christian people. By finding one and
plugging in the support, encouragement, accountability, and prayer that can be obtained is
irreplaceable.
Passages in Scripture
The scriptures are full of direct and indirect references that point Christians to seek and
develop deep relationships with each other. The Apostle Paul wrote, “And the eye cannot say
unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.”3 In
this Paul is saying that Christians need each other and depend on one another to survive. Just as
the physical body needs every individual part to operate as it was designed so does the body of
Christ need each part working together in unity and harmony to be its most efficient. Each part
of the body has a specific task and is interdependent upon the rest of the body to not only
function but to carry out the task of the entirety. When people come to this understanding and
dependence upon one another, real growth occurs and deep relationship are formed.
Understanding the true nature of a Christian relationship causes people to really open up amongst
each other.
In Mark 3:13-14 we see that Jesus called out directly to the men that He wished to train
and develop for the purpose of furthering His ministry. When someone is called to lead a small
group they are taking on a Christ-like role in that Jesus himself modeled this with His disciples.
The leader then must be intentional and deliberate in emphasizing and clearly explaining that the
3 1 Corinthians 12:21 (KJV).
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purpose of the group is to prepare the participants to replicate the behavior and someday form
their own groups and disciple a new group of men or women and start a domino effect that leads
to numerous groups and numerous leaders being trained and equipped to do the work and will of
God.
Finally the Great Commission is obvious in that we are called to go and make disciples
and it was once described to the student that one had not truly discipled someone until they have
gone and discipled someone else. Making a disciple is truly not complete until the act of
discipling someone else is repeated by the pupil. Jeffrey Arnold said “Disciples are made
intentionally.”4 It is essential to understand the seriousness that is being a small group leader and
pouring the life of one person into the life of another. “As a small group leader, you are
following in the very footsteps of Jesus Christ.”5 The call in the life of a Christian is a huge
undertaking. Regardless of whether or not you are called into full time formal ministry, every
Christian is called to go and make disciples in the name of Christ and to train them up to also go
and make disciples of their own.
Church and Small Group Structure
The church that I currently attend is a mixed bag in both its overall structure as well as
the structure of the small group ministry. We are a church that is led by a lead pastor but we are
large enough that we have several associate pastors that are more ministry specific. We are
highly evangelistic and missional in both our giving and our outreach projects and our pastor is a
great encourager/cheerleader. Discipleship is carried out intensively through small group
ministry and it intentionally seeking to raise up new leaders to continually birth new groups. Our
4 Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2004), 23.
5 Rod Dempsey, Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups (Lynchburg: Liberty University
Press, 2015), 9, MBS Direct.
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goal is to invest in the people within the church and to train and equip them to find their place
within the body of Christ to best be of service to God. If I were to put a label on my church it
would probably be a combination of Organic and Hybrid with a little bit of Traditional sprinkled
in. We truly do not fit into the mold of any of the listed possibilities but are more of a mix of
each.
The small group structure of my church is probably “with” in size but “is” in terms of our
goal for the small group program. The plan for this church is to get as much traction for the
groups as possible and to enroll as many people as we can into the groups to train and develop
into future group leaders to replicate the model and to reach people within the specific spheres of
influence within the life of the members of the groups. The only area that I would say we are an
“of” church would be that we offer both open and closed groups for differing reasons suited to
the individual groups. While we do have aspirations to place and develop people within groups,
we still at the same time retain a lot of characteristics of traditional worship/church structures.
We offer small groups as a sort of “in addition to” the other various programs of the church with
the intent to give people as much opportunity to grow spiritually as they might need.
Conclusion
The small group or HomeGroup as they are called at my church is a highly important part
of discipleship. Jesus thought so much of them that he sought to model his entire ministry with a
small group. The training and raising up of new leaders within the confines of the church is not a
new concept and it is something that has not been taken seriously enough in recent years. The
church has gotten lazy and become too dependent upon pastors and church leaders to the point
that many of them are leaving due to burnout and lack of support. Thankfully I am able to serve
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alongside a pastor that takes discipleship and replication of it very seriously. It is truly a blessing
to have been called to serve with a wonderful body of believers.
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Bibliography
Arnold, Jeffrey. The Big Book on Small Groups. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2004.
Comiskey, Joel. Biblical Foundations for the Cell-Based Church. Moreno Valley, CA: CCS
Publishing, 2012.
Dempsey, Rod. Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups. Lynchburg: Liberty
University Press, 2015. MBS Direct.
House, Brad. Community: Taking Your Small Group off Life Support. Wheaton. IL: Crossway,
2011.
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