Almost every church has a small group ministry. Your church may call it Sunday School, Life Groups, Missional Communities, home groups, or some other name, and you may wonder why you should be in one. You think it requires you to wake up an hour earlier on Sunday morning, or requires you to spend a weeknight at someone’s house instead of watching your favorite TV show. So why should you be a part of your church’s small group ministry? Here are 14 reasons why:
- Acceptance
The small group provides an avenue where everyone is accepted.
Rom. 15:7 “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
In the Gospels, we see Jesus leading a small group, and in his small group, we see an eclectic bunch. This group had a former tax collector in Matthew, a hothead in Peter, and even a Zealot in Simon! Yet, all of these men were accepted by Jesus. Your small group is a place where you can be accepted and where you can accept others.
2. Attention
Small groups allow for personal attention to be given to each person. Each and every participant will have someone who can demonstrate love to them based on personal needs.
Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good deeds.”
What it means to consider one another means to look to see what one needs, and it is to consciously think about a person’s needs. In a small group, others can do that for you, and you can do that for others.
3. Assistance
A small group provides a leader who can assist in meeting the needs that members have. It also put fellow members in a position to connect with one another so they can minister to one another.
Galatians 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
1 Corinthians 12:25 “that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”
Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
1 Peter 4:10 “As each of you have received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
In a small group, you are able to be assisted and to be of assistance.
4. Accountability
As the leader develops credibility and trust, accountability is established with each member. The leader can then speak into their life about how they are living, and the members can speak into the life of the leader.
Hebrews 3:13 “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
In a small group, you can be exhorted to live out your salvation, and you can encourage others to do the same.
5. Application
One of the greatest strengths of small groups is that a teacher/group leader can be more pointed in their application of a lesson. Needs in a person’s life are more clearly defined, thus allowing the teacher to state what they would like the member to do.
Deut. 6:6-7 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
In a small group, someone can help you understand how to apply Scripture better, and you can help someone apply Scripture better.
6. Advisors
The network that is being developed in the small group provides members with people who care about them and will give solid, spiritual advice. As group members grow in love with each other, they will look out for each other’s best interests. Slowly, the group leader and the group members will become part of the person’s board of directors.
Romans 15:14 “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”
In a small group, you can have a group of faithful advisors, and you can be a faithful advisor to another.
7. Authority
Small groups are a place to practice mutual submission to one another. Specifically, small groups place members in a setting where they have an authority figure, as the small group leader should have been selected by leaders of the church. This allows for several things, such as giving the group member a connection to someone who can get answers for problems they are facing. It also allows the group member to be in a setting where they are a follower.
1 Peter 5:5 “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
In a small group, you’ll learn followship.
8. Affirmation
The small group setting allows members to verbally affirm one another. Timothy needed affirmation to stay the course that God had for him. We need affirmation to stay on our course.
Rom. 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
In a small group, you can be affirmed, and you can affirm others.
9. Answers
As the small group leader teaches, they are able to allow for questions to be asked that are on the minds of the group members. Answers to Bible questions, as well as answers to life questions, can be found.
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
In a small group, you can find answers, and you can help others find answers.
10. Admonishment
Group leaders will at times need to rebuke or correct the behavior of a member. To admonish is to discipline in a way that brings about a change in behavior. Having a group leader who cares about the person and is close to the person is going to bring about better receptivity to a rebuke than one who is a stranger.
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
In a small group, you can be lovingly admonished, and you can lovingly admonish.
11. Appreciation
One of the greatest heartfelt needs in life is to know that you are appreciated. Being in a small group allows members to feel important. Leaders will express statements like those of the apostle Paul: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you” (Phil. 1:3).
Ephesians 1:16 “I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:”
Col. 1:3 “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you”
1 Thessalonians 3:9 “For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God,”
In a small group, you can be appreciated, and you can appreciate others.
12. Affection
Groups are able to express love one to another. There is tender affection for one another as we share burdens and concerns.
1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;”
Rom. 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love…”
In a small group, you can be loved, and you can show love.
13. Appeals Made To God In Prayer
The group leader prays for the group members by name and by need as well as praying scriptural prayers like Col. 1:9-11 for them. The Strength of our having small groups is that every day every person in the group can be prayed for by name. Small group leaders are taught to pray Paul’s prayer for the Colossians.
Col. 1:9-11 “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.”
Daily guide for praying one request a day, Monday through Friday:
On Monday, pray that the small group member knows and does the will of God
On Tuesday, pray that the small group member walks in a way that is pleasing to the Lord
On Wednesday, pray that the small group members’ work is productive, being fruitful in all they do
On Thursday, pray for the small group members to increase in their wisdom (knowledge) about God
On Friday, pray that the small group members withstand both trials and temptations
In a small group, you can be prayed for and pray for others.
14. Advancement
Being involved in a group allows a person’s gifts and talents to be discovered by someone. The group leader can help to get them to places of service – maybe even serving as a group leader. They can have them serve as an apprentice before launching their own group. Because they have been a follower, submitting to leadership, they are better prepared to lead.
2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
In a small group, you can discover how to better serve others, and you can help others discover how they can serve.