Why Small Groups?

This Is Your Ministry

Small Groups are not one ministry in the life of our church, they are the ministry. Like breathing, these groups provide oxygen to our relationships with one another. They facilitate discipleship. They provide a context for relationships that help us become more like Jesus.

A Series On The "Why" Of Our Small Groups

Over the next few months, we are going to write a series of posts highlighting why we do small groups the way we do.

For those of you already participating in a small group, this should strengthen your appreciation for your small group and help you continue to faithfully participate.

For those of you not currently participating in a small group, consider this an invitation. We want you to experience the rich benefits of a life lived with other Christians. It's the way God intended us to grow and bear fruit.

Reason 1: True Fellowship

"We should not think of our fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotions. Fellowship is one of the great words of the New Testament: it denotes something that is vital to a Christian’s spiritual health, and central to the Church’s true life...The church will flourish and Christians will be strong only when there is fellowship." J.I. Packer

Our desire to know others and be known by others is a sign that we were made for fellowship. That ache for deep and meaningful connection to other humans is no accident. It was woven into us by our Maker.

Certainly, you were made to know God and enjoy Him. But you were not made to do either of those alone. You were meant to do those in community. That's fellowship: a shared experience of God Himself with others who are united to Christ.

In small groups, that is what we are seeking. Through praying together, learning together, counseling one another, sharing the Word of God with one another, meeting one another's needs, we want to experience true fellowship. As Packer notes above, this is not optional, it's vital to our spiritual health.

We commit to a small group as a way of committing to our own spiritual health, the spiritual health of others, and the spiritual health of the church. This takes sacrifice. It takes time as we meet with one another inside and outside of planned meetings. It takes courage as we share who we really are with one another. It takes energy as we listen, pray, and bear one another's burdens.

But this investment has wonderful returns: growth, harmony, joy, and most of all, a display of the glory of God among us.