CHURCH LEADERS recently published an article about why church home groups (or ‘cells’) often don’t seem to work. The author, Pastor M. Scott Boren, Woodland Hills Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota, stated that he observed many U.S. churches in the 1990s and 2000s fail at small groups because leadership saw the groups as a fad, eventually moving on to other things that promised greater results.
Among the reasons listed for why church home groups fail includes the perception that such groups are merely fads, the ‘sizzle’ tends to wear off quickly, pastoral leadership (those who are shepherd-minded as opposed to administrative-minded) is lacking, or that they are designed, built and maintained often by one-dimensional persons (i.e., those who may be good at a certain task but are not well rounded and experienced).
The CHURCH LEADERS article may be read in full HERE.
My brothers and sisters, this writer has had many experiences with church home groups over the decades. It seems that the groups can loosely fall into a couple of categories, family-oriented, ultra-faithful groups and the more ‘institutional’ groups where the purpose seems to be to focus to near exclusion on the teaching pastor’s last sermon (or upcoming sermon).
I’ve experienced some of both over the decades. To be open about this, my wife and I have not been, generally speaking, particularly interested in regularly attending home groups, which may be why we have always gravitated to smaller to mid-sized churches where access to the pastor(s) and leadership is not as restricted.
One of our concerns and/or observations was that small group leaders sometimes want those in their groups to be forthright and vulnerable, but the leaders seeking this personal (and often spiritual) information, as well as most of the others in attendance, are not pastors or even longstanding elders with whom we were willing (or felt it necessary) to disclose certain things that would be much more comfortable disclosing to a pastor, for reasons of privacy. Growing the group with visitors may be viewed as important, but this can contribute to a lack of openness.
On the other hand, I am currently reinvolving myself with a longstanding (read: decades) and loving home group that my wife and I used to attend. The group itself contains several pastors, although they don’t come to the group with that being the focus, but rather, to enjoy godly fellowship, a time of worship, a great potluck meal, and a Bible study by the group teacher – followed by discussion. In this setting, the issues of confidentiality are much less of a concern and there is a comfortable atmosphere where no one is attempting to impress anyone, and the entire focus is on Jesus and how to serve each other.
It seems to me that if the purpose of the home (small) group is simply to be an extension of the teaching series or to summarize the pastor’s most-recent sermon, the group may lack a strong sense of cohesion and personal fellowship, at least in the long run.
I am thankful, however, for the gathering of the saints whenever and wherever it happens! Praise God that there are many church-affiliated home or small groups which serve to provide specific or detailed training that would be difficult during a typical church service and that serve as a time for fellowship – where persons are edified in Christ!
The Bible tells us that it is good to stir up love and good works, and to not forsake the assembling of believers:
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day [of the Lord] approaching.”
The Bible also tells us that when two or three (read: a small group) are gathered together in the name of Jesus, that He is there in the midst, ready to answer his children’s prayers:
Matthew 18:19-20 (NKJV)
“Again[,] I [Jesus] say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them [emphasis mine].”
