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Rose74
Guest
My friend goes to a ND church and refers to a small group. What is it?
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Brywan
Guest
A small group of people (number will vary) who meet together, usually, but not always, outside of church–maybe at a group member’s home–for prayer, Bible study, fellowship. When I belonged to a large ND church, my small group was the group of people within the church who I knew and who knew me. It’s a way to avoid getting lost in the pews and it links you up with like-minded people who will, presumably, help you to grow in your faith, When the going gets tough, you can call on any member of your small group to help you out with prayer and hands-on love and support. At least that’s the ideal we strived for…
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SteveVH
Guest
We have small groups within our parish. Some have been together for nearly 20 years now.
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Brywan
Guest
Yes, some Catholic parishes are quite good at this–in others it’s non-existent.
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SteveVH
Guest
It just takes someone to get it started, like anything else,
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Cat
Guest
The best small groups are those that form naturally around a common interest,
When churches attempt to establish small groups, they usually fizzle because the only purpose for the small group is to be a small group, and that isn’t enough motivation for people to stay involved.
But when there is a common interest, people stay involved because they are interested. The common interest can be secular; e.g., golf, or spiritual, e.g. praying for the ending of abortion.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Decades ago, in the Protestant church that I grew up in, small groups were formed by the church leadership, and everyone in the church got assigned to one of the small groups. These groups were a mix of people who had virtually nothing in common, and most of them fizzled after a few months.
But my mother’s group, for some strange reason, continued for several decades. It was just like all the other groups, a polyglot of people of all ages, sexes, spiritual maturities, backgrounds, incomes, jobs, interests, etc. No one had anything in common, and yet they met for years and all became extremely close friends and spiritual allies. Lucky for my mother, because she eventually became an invalid (due to arthritis), and the group kept up with her, visited her, called, sent cards, and eventually attended her funeral.
So when they work, small groups are great!
When churches attempt to establish small groups, they usually fizzle because the only purpose for the small group is to be a small group, and that isn’t enough motivation for people to stay involved.
But when there is a common interest, people stay involved because they are interested. The common interest can be secular; e.g., golf, or spiritual, e.g. praying for the ending of abortion.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Decades ago, in the Protestant church that I grew up in, small groups were formed by the church leadership, and everyone in the church got assigned to one of the small groups. These groups were a mix of people who had virtually nothing in common, and most of them fizzled after a few months.
But my mother’s group, for some strange reason, continued for several decades. It was just like all the other groups, a polyglot of people of all ages, sexes, spiritual maturities, backgrounds, incomes, jobs, interests, etc. No one had anything in common, and yet they met for years and all became extremely close friends and spiritual allies. Lucky for my mother, because she eventually became an invalid (due to arthritis), and the group kept up with her, visited her, called, sent cards, and eventually attended her funeral.
So when they work, small groups are great!
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Monergistic
Guest
I think the closest thing to it from a Catholic experience would be mystagogy. Discipleship often plays a large role, too- one of my first experiences with this was called Discipleship Small Groups. This was shortened to DSG almost immediately.
Life Group is a common term as well. The only distinction is that a life group tends to be more of a permanent fixture while a small group is for a season, some other period of time, or just until you’ve gotten through whatever material you wanted to work on.
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hn160
Guest
There are dangers in small groups if the pastor/priest does not oversee the small groups. At a Lutheran church that I beige to attend, a small group was formed and after a while the group started to study non-Lutheran doctrine and they split the church, luckily they left and formed their own non-demonitional church.
Pastor Rick Warren is a big proponent of small groups with his forty days of purpose. His theology is all theology of glory which never points to the cross.
Pastor Rick Warren is a big proponent of small groups with his forty days of purpose. His theology is all theology of glory which never points to the cross.
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Isaiah45_9
Guest
One you can take out for breakfast?
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Cat
Guest
I must correct your statement about Pastor Rick Warrne’s “theology of glory.” This is not true. Here is a link to the Statement of Faith of the Saddleback Church: saddleback.com/aboutsaddleback/whatwebelieve/
IT is clear from this statement, and from Pastor Warren’s writings, that his theology does point to the Cross of Christ.
The main reason that Pastor Warren and Saddleback Church use small groups is because of the immense size of the church. It is very difficult to find friends and get involved with ministry in a church with many thousands of people and with several campuses. A lot of people feel “lost” and “lonely” in such large groups of people. The small group model breaks the church into cell groups that help people to connect with others and find friends, ministry, etc.
The small group model is very effective, and I see no reason for any Catholic to distrust or scoff at it, although I agree that the small groups need to be supervised by a pastor so that they don’t become divisive due to wrong theology.
Our large Catholic parish has a small group model that is used for those who make the Light of the World retreat. My husband’s small group (formed out of the retreat) lasted for two years, and even though it eventually fell apart, we are still friends with those people. I was in a “Why Catholic?” small group that lasted for several years, and even though we stopped formal meetings, we still are friends and get together once in a while. The people in my small group were very kind to me a few months ago after my father died.
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