Continued from Christian Small Groups-2
3. Gathering is devotion to Reproduction...Starting A New Small Group Ministry:
As we've covered in earlier lessons, the years Christianity grew at its fastest were the 350 years before we started meeting in church buildings. This partly had to do with time and money. The average modern church budget is about 45% building expenses and 45% professional clergy, leaving only 10% for actual works of ministry in the community. In the first 300 years, because there were no buildings or priests to support, about 90% of the donations were free do ministry works, with the rest being given to provide food and shelter for the traveling Apostles. We can imagine the time for ministry being divided in about the same proportions. It's amusing to hear, today, that we can't do home church because houses limit the growth. In fact, just the opposite is true, and has been proven over history. The fastest growing times in the last 1,700 years were when the "churches" got out of their buildings and ministered in homes, fields, coffee shops, etc. The only limitations are in our own thinking. As long as we're comfortable sharing our homes to worship God with a few other people, we don't need other buildings. As long as we're comfortable encouraging those we've been worshiping with to host groups in their homes, then there's no limit to our growth, either in size or speed. We don't have to build another building!
We've already covered reproduction of individual Christians, this is about reproduction of Gathering groups. We "split" Gathering groups to make room for more people while keeping the intimacy of a small group. If your group is growing in numbers, soon you will be more than one group. This can happen by chance or by choice. By chance, people will fade away when they feel crowded out or someone will stage a "coup" and take a few sympathetic ears with them. In these cases, fellowship usually gets cut of with these people. When you split by choice, everyone understands from the beginning that splitting is a natural growth process and that it results in an expansion of the number of people we get to fellowship with. The other groups aren't competitors or enemies, but families we're related to and visit with. The optimal size of a Gathering varies from 5-15 adults, certainly, by 20, you will have made plans to split. Sometimes a group may split to resolve a problem…for example: Some children or even some adults may have personality clashes that repeatedly interfere with the peace at a Gathering. In these cases, it may be better for a couple groups to form and remain friends rather than force people to pretend to get along. In all things, let the Holy Spirit guide you.
Conclusion: The guidance of the Holy Spirit is key to the whole Devotional Gathering. This is not meant to be an exhaustive instruction about how to do a Gathering, but a description of key characteristics of the Gatherings we encourage at http://www.web-church.com. The 3 characteristics a successful gathering will be growing toward and becoming devoted to are: Nurturing, Ministry and Reproduction. We expect the Holy Spirit to guide you in all things. Should you want additional counsel on situations specific to your gathering, write us. We may need to have a conference session by phone or Internet to pray and work out the issues.
Commitments (please pray about and make these commitments to God):
1. I commit to continue in a
Gathering group devoted to nurturing each other and new believers.
2. I commit to seeking God for a
ministry where this group can meet our community at its point of need.
3. I commit to reproduce new
Gathering groups as God shows us the need.
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