The Biblical Model

God created man to be in relationship with him.  He sent Jesus as a man to teach us how we could be saved from our sins through a loving relationship with Him.  Jesus chose to spread His Good News through his disciples.  The method he chose to mature His disciples was in the form of a small group which met regularly and shared daily life together.  The Bible tells us of many accounts where Jesus went off with his disciples to teach, pray and eat with them.  He also fished and socialized with His inner circle of twelve.

In the small group the disciples gained an understanding of what it meant to live like Christ. They heard the message Jesus was preaching and developed an intimate knowledge of the heart of Christ through daily life experienced in community with one another.  Later, Jesus’ disciples used this same model and method to spread the good news.  They traveled far and wide spreading God’s word by developing relationships with those who were lonely, afflicted, suffering and searching.  They prayed with them, for them, encouraged them, loved them and shared fellowship with them, in other words formed relationships with them.  These small groups became the foundation for the Early Church.

Small groups were an integral part of the early church structure.  They were small enough to allow individual members to minister to one another, use their spiritual gifts, and be disciplined in the teachings of Christ.  In addition, they were vibrant and life-giving communities where evangelism could take place as unchurched people watched a loving and compassionate community in action.  Small groups not only built up the church, but were vehicles for reaching a lost world for Christ.

"They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper,
and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—
all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.
And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved." Acts 2:46 - 47