Dear Family in Christ
The BBC over its 99 years has had a rich history of having small groups as part of its church’s ministry. These have functioned as Classes where members meet periodically, look out for each other, garner support for harvest, and participate in the worship at Golden Spring church monthly among other things. We also have the Cell groups, the Women’s Federation and the Brotherhood, Sunday School, to name a few. These have served the church well and there are persons who can testify of the impact that these groups have had on their lives.
Having these groups have allowed members to address church and membership matters at a more intimate level than they would at the larger church level. Secondly, one cannot conceive of our annual harvest Ingathering without the healthy rivalry between the classes as each seek to outdo the other both in giving and in the display of their artistic talents. Thirdly, it is heartening to see the class support for a family who loses a relative who is a member of the church. This is usually more evident at the pre-funeral prayer meeting planned for the deceased. Fourthly, the tradition is now well established, that there are two small groups, men and women who work feverishly and pleasurably to fete the other, on the special days for Mothers and Fathers. I’m not aware of this tradition anywhere else. One could easily say that BBC is a church with small groups.
But notwithstanding these groups, it is sad to observe that there are members who are ‘dropping’ through the cracks. There are members who do not feel like they belong. There are regular visitors who are not involved in any small group at all and some small groups have members who are not known by other members of the group. The challenge is how can the church use the small groups to make a greater impact in the life of its members, in the life of the community, and as a tool for mission and evangelism? How can the church use small groups to fulfill God’s Commission to the church to love God, to love one another and to make disciples?
My vision is that BBC, become a church of small groups. A church where each member, each congregant, each person from the community become attached to a small group. It is in this group that growth will be facilitated. That faith will be nurtured, that each person will be cared for and share in a context of accountability. It would be building on what Barbican has been practicing for nearly 100 years. In a church of small groups, each member would know what is coming next; would know that the group has a life , that they will be mentored and they could eventually grow to the point where they could become a leader of a group, and this is not a reward for being in church for twenty years.
The biblical examples of the effectiveness of small groups cannot be challenged. In the Old Testament, Moses’s father suggested smaller administrative groups to ensure that the needs of his people were met (Ex. 18:1-27). In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus instructed his disciples to allow the crowd, of men women and children, to sit in groups of 50 so that they could be served adequately and orderly (Jn 6:1-15). And in the Acts, the early Christians, met in house groups regularly, to study the Word, to pray, to share the Lord’s supper and to care for one another as well as to reach out to those outside the body of Christ (Acts 2: 42-47). The result, the church, though still having shortcomings, not perfect, with the deception of Ananias and Saphira, grew as more people were added daily.
What if this is where God wants us to be? Would you like to be the one to be resisting the leading of the spirit? Would you want to be guilty of not cooperating with God? Is there anything that is not good, about providing the opportunity for each member to be a better Christian, and for a non-believer to have a cradle where faith can be born and nurtured?
Let us give God a chance and allow God to glorify His name. Are you in?
Pastor.