God's Word calls us to both when Christ said the greatest commandment is that we love the Lord our God and the second is that we love each other.
Small groups are where people connect with each other, find a sense of belonging, and give and receive biblical care. Organizing a large church into bite size groups is the only way to make sure people are known, being cared for, and growing in Christ. Being organized into small groups is the only way to provide biblical accountability: noticing when someone is gone and calling to check on them, having to interact with others and therefore putting one's spiritual condition on display, being pushed to the next mile marker in one's journey with Christ instead of being allowed to stall in one's walk with God.
You can see why it is necessary to multiply small groups when they get past about twenty people. When the group has grown to where someone can "hide" in the group, its ability to fulfill its greater purpose is diminished. Mutiplying one's small group when it reaches a certain size should be in the DNA of every small group.
Sometimes small groups don't look like a traditional bible study class. For example, our muscians are a small group, the senior leaders of our preschool and children's ministry are a small group, our staff are a small group.
But, the premise is true: those who aren't plugged into a small group and some who are in a small group gets too big, fall through the cracks. They only see NEHBC from the outside looking in, they never quite feel at home.
Small groups need two big things to be suucessful: 1. "Buy in" to the notion that smaller is better. The smaller a group, the more people experience the benefits of the small group. When a group doesn't want to multiply because they think bigger is better or because they fear loss of relationships, they have lost understanding of what the small group is for. Leaders who struggle with multiplication often just misunderstand the measure of success: its not the size of the group, but the spiritual development of one's small group members that matters. 2. Great leadership. At NEHBC I expect our small group leaders to care for the sheep in their small group. They are more than teachers, they are responsible for ensuring a system in their small group that provides care, encouragement, and accountability. Classes make their hospital visits, check on absentees, rally around those in crisis, challenge each other, etc. I'm so grateful for the small group leaders at NEHBC. They have a big responsibility and do it well.
I pray we will see the day where every NEHBCer is in a small group. The more people we have in healthy small groups, the healthier NEHBC will be. May we become a living community of God.
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