'WHY SMALL GROUPS?'
by CJ Mahaney
available online on www.sovereigngraceministries.org

The need for small groups
Small groups should be a priority for every Christian. With these relationships formed in the small group, there is fellowship. Fellowship is vital to a Christian's spiritual health. Churches flourish and Christians will be strong when there is fellowship. These small groups which start in church must have a Biblical mandate and purpose, if not, they would flounder. The four clear goals from Scripture regarding small groups are: progressive sanctification, mutual care, fellowship and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Sanctification
The goal of the Christian life is increasing freedom from sin and an increasing resemblance to Jesus Christ. The small group is the ideal context for this to happen. There has to be confrontation of sin and a challenge to change in the small group. Of course, sanctification is the progressive work of God in the believer. If one has truly been justified, sanctification is the evidence in one's life. Small groups can contribute to this magnificent and gradual work of grace in our lives.
Although one's personal responsibility for sanctification remains paramount, sanctification cannot be accomplished in isolation from the local church.
"The Christian life is inescapably corporate... The ideal of the 'omnipotent Christian individual', able to meet every spiritual challenge and live a life of unbroken victory over sin and the devil has produced remarkable examples of Christian character, but, as every Christian counsellor knows, this emphasis has driven many to a lonely struggle ending in despair and disillusionment, or, worse, in the hypocrisy of a double-standard life... The major sections in the Bible on holiness occur in letters addressed to corporate groups, to churches... In other words, the apostles envisaged the Christian life and Christian sanctification in the context of a loving, caring fellowship."-Bruce Milne
Small groups provide the encouragement, correction and accountability that keep us from drifting. As important as it is to cultivate a personal relationship with God by practising the spiritual disciplines, we need others to help us in our pursuit of sanctification. If you have a passion for personal change-and every Christian should- then you will be glad when others challenge you to grow.
Ecc 4:9-10 "Two are better than once, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up." Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another."

Changing lives through God's Word
Relationships are one vital means of sanctification; God's Word is the other. Nothing changes us more effectively than the application of Scripture. Merely hearing God's Word isn't sufficient- it bears fruit only when we apply it. Though reading the Scripture and listening to good preaching are disciplines essential to Christian life, and each is a vital means of grace, neither is sufficient in itself. In fact, Biblical knowledge is potentially deceptive if obedience does not take place. Those who merely listen to the word but fail to apply the word in their lives will experience an increasing degree of self-deception rather than progressive sanctification. These small groups in the church are designed for application of Scripture, after Scripture has been interpreted correctly.

Called to Mutual Care
The first purpose of the small group is to create a context where every member can pursue sanctification. The second is to create a context where every member can give and receive care.
1 Corinthians 12:24-26 "God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it."
Many assume that in a small church, close relationships develop automatically. Also, they think that in large churches, it is impossible to form close relationships. However, relationships can flourish in a big church...and be absent in a small one. The ability to forge personal relationships depends on the doctrinal understanding and practice of the people who make up that church.

Fellowship Redefined
Fellowship means to participate together, or to communicate things we hold in common. Our relationship with God being the common denominator between us as Christians should then form the content of true fellowship within our small groups.
The depth of our personal relationship with God determines the degree of fellowship possible with one another. Thus, in order to know true fellowship, one must maintain a passionate relationship with and experience of God.
We must note that fellowship is not another word for social activities. Social activities can create a context for fellowship, but they are a place to begin-not a place to remain. Nothing compares with time we spend together worshipping God, study and apply Scripture together, encourage and correct one another, and communicating of experience of God.

Experiencing and Expressing Gifts of the Holy Spirit
In this smaller and more personal context, each one can serve according to the gifting of the Holy Spirit.
In order to do so, individuals must respond quickly to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. As God is grieved over the sins we commit, we have to quickly act on it. Also, as the Holy Spirit prompts us to use our gifts to serve others, we need to do so in the body of believers.

Article summarised by James Tan