Where Does True Spiritual Growth Happen?
So, just curious, what do you think of the follow statement that I pulled off of a church website (which will remain nameless)
“Loving God, Loving Others, and Serving. We believe that true spiritual growth happens in small groups of people. That’s the way Jesus taught his disciples, that’s the way the early church was formed, and that’s the way we’re going to grow as well. Imagine a church that doesn’t just have small groups, but is a church of small groups. Imagine these groups learning how to live more like Jesus. Imagine these groups in all corners of our city serving the poor, the broken, and the forgotten people. Imagine these groups simply being the Church.”
In the meantime, we need everyone to sign up for a small group. We have two ways for you to do this. You can simply click “Find A Group†on this website, or you can sign up at the church kiosk on our campus. Be sure to sign up today as small groups will fill up quickly.
Now, here are my questions (I’m asking genuine questions here, i really am curious):
1. Do you think that “true spiritual growth really happens” in small groups of people? Has that been your experience?
2. In your experience, where / how has your “true spiritual growth” happened?
3. If you have an opinion, what do you think of the “church of small groups model?”
4. Finally, would you sign up? Would you join this if this were your church?
Update: Thanks everyone for your helpful responses! I’ve followed suit and posted my thoughts in a new blog post. You can find it here:
Dorie said...
110/11/07 5:38 AM | Comment Link |
1 & 2. Yes. But I don’t believe that “true spriritual growth really happens” consistantly in a predetermined small group. I believe it is the random, unexpected groups that create this growth. Our Lord works in unexpected ways. There is not just one way to grow and change. (On a personal level, I grew and changed the most in premarital work, as an individual, as a couple and as a follower of Christ).
3. I don’t have a very good opinion on the “church of small groups” model. It reaks of a bad idea and of high school (where small cliques were needed to survive). We aren’t talking about break out groups that are changing and flexible but of church encouraged cliques. Two lines in particular make me uncomfortable with this: “In the meantime, we need everyone to sign up for a small group” and “Be sure to sign up today as small groups will fill up quickly.” The first is because I read that statement as “You have to do this if you want to be a part of our community” and the second is because it implies that someone could be left without a group or because there could be good groups and bad groups.
I do however believe that this model was probably created with the best of intentions but also with a lack of wisdom and compassion.
4. I wouldn’t sign up. But that because that probably would not be my church. And if it was my church, I would probably leave. I am also left with the question, if I was new to town, saw this church in the phone book, and wanted to check things out, how would I be able to? Would this church really be able to welcome visitors and non-christians?
Tim Etherington said...
210/11/07 6:13 AM | Comment Link |
I’ve found that this emphasis on small groups is part the emphasis on church growth. That doesn’t make it good or bad, right or wrong, but it at least identifies the source.
1. Do you think that “true spiritual growth really happens” in small groups of people? Has that been your experience?
As opposed to only meeting on Sunday morning for worship and Sunday school, yes. But small groups of people can also be cliques which do not promote spiritual growth. The statement is really too broad. I think words like “intentional” and “disciple-making” and “spiritual gifts” are lacking. In other words, the small groups will only work to generate spiritual growth if they behave as small churches.
2. In your experience, where / how has your “true spiritual growth” happened?
The most spiritual growth I’ve experienced has been when I’m on mission. Short term trips overseas, pursuing my seminary degree, etc.
3. If you have an opinion, what do you think of the “church of small groups” model?
Xenos Christian Fellowship seems be make it work, but they are in a unique situation. I don’t think their model is as reproducible as they’d like to think. The university setting means that there isn’t an aversion to teaching. In suburbia there can be.
I think that if you are going to be a “church of small groups” then you should be a church-planting church planting church. In other words, those small groups should be able to be spun off as church plants at some point. But that isn’t usually the model. Since the small group emphasis comes from church growth, there can be a built in aversion to sending those groups ‘away’ from the ‘growing’ church.
4. Finally, would you sign up? Would you join this if this were your church?
Probably. I have a loyalty to my local church and participate in things I don’t entirely like. Also, since I’m heading toward the pastorate, there is a draw in me to provide shepherding to at least one of those groups. The idea of the sheep shepherding themselves is not one I am comfortable with. I think there should be an elder or an elder-quality man in each of those small groups.
Love your blog Todd. I don’t visit often but I do read through Google Reader so I’m on your RSS feed.
This will be an interesting thread to follow!
JR Rozko said...
310/11/07 6:56 AM | Comment Link |
1. While it is undeniable that people are impacted and shaped by things such as large gatherings, personal times of solitude and reflection, books, and random conversations, what we need to realize is that all those experiences are interpreted through a grid we all have which is formed by our experiences with others. So, inasmuch as the Bible tells the story of God seeking to form a community which would nurture people to see and experience things in a certain way, I think we ought to seriously consider the importance of the primary community that we live in. Said more simply, the sentiment sort of misses the point - it’s not that spiritual growth happens primarily in small groups, it’s that the group/community we are a part of guides the trajectory of our formation.
2. I think every single thing I do influences how I am being spiritually formed.
3. This may be an appropriate starting place for where the church is at, but it still smacks of a very consumeristic and controlling paradigm of understanding what it means to be the people of God.
4. If this were my church I would sign up if that really was the best way for me to be connected, but I don’t see much value in being a part of a small group just for the sake of being a part of a small group. It has to do with the sort of small group you are a part of. For me, it’s really a question of ethics - how are we going to live and why are we going to live that way - as opposed to a question of method - saying that small groups are the best way to grow spiritually.
Maria said...
410/11/07 7:01 AM | Comment Link |
1 -2. I’d say sometimes. Spiritual growth most often happens in my life when I’m aware of the Spirit moving in a new direction - or just plain desperate about the situation I’m in. Generally in those seasons I find a few people, sometimes formally organized as a small group, who I can trust to share the journey with.
3. Personally, I’m fascinated by the idea of house churches. I’d love to be part of a network of house churches that are actually growing and helping to start new ones. I don’t know how well an established church can become a “church of small groups”.
4. Probably not. For me the point of a small group is the importance of relationship, and I just don’t think we form authentic relationships that are going to last past the life of the group by “signing up.” Groups need to have a bit more of an organic life to them.
Scott Hackman said...
510/11/07 11:58 AM | Comment Link |
1. I agree with the comment that we can not make spiritual growth happen. However, the return to faith for me has taken place in a small group. I now call it a faith community, this is my family, this is my participation in Church universal. I want to be a follower of Jesus and the faith community of http://www.livingroomconversations.blogspot.com, where you can read our meanderings.
2. I do not like the need to title a model, like “house churches” or a church made up of them. But if what you mean is groups of Christian communities gathering together for a large gathering to be encouraged, share stories and be sent. Yes, Yes, Yes…
We have to go there, we must go there, there is no where else to go. there is no new look, new model, new technique. We need to begin seeing ourselves a part of the work God is doing in the world. Then we must act in community for community of faith in Christ.
3. We have to stop thinking in the box given to us about how to do “small groups” it is getting together for the sake of the Kingdom, not our selves. It is entering to another perspective to have a conversation and dare to be wrong. We have to see ourselves in a process and a system that needs our courage. The Church does not need more seminars, celebrities and tea parties. The Church needs pioneers and people willing to fail and look foolish by the standards of success, comfort and stability. This is a mess I want to jump in with the few willing to jump in. This is the mess I have been called to since a very young age. This is the mess I have made, and I am not joining with other people to co create the new reality.
Jim Renaud said...
610/11/07 12:12 PM | Comment Link |
1. Do you think that “true spiritual growth really happens†in small groups of people? Has that been your experience?
I don’t like phrases like “true spiritual” anything. It sounds like there’s one answer. This is obviously not the case. There are so many ways God connects with us and ways we feel closer to connect with God. I think Small Groups is a vital way to create a balance. For instance reading Richard Foster’s Celebration of Disciplines there are disciplines we do solo, some as a group, etc. I think it’s the variety of experiences that keeps things fresh. I have been to horrible Small Groups and I have been to awesome ones and most of them fell somewhere in betweeen. I think Small Groups are vital to a church though. They offer a foothold into community and connect with others while connecting with God.
2. In your experience, where / how has your “true spiritual growth†happened?
Prayer. Connecting with God through prayer while listening to music, worship, praying for others.
3. If you have an opinion, what do you think of the “church of small groups†model?
I think small groups should have a foundation of small groups, but not only small groups. I like the idea of trying to envision the kingdom of God here on Earth and that often means worshiping and being apart of a collective group larger than just your close friends in a small group. Also I have found entering small groups to be much more intimidating then entering a church. Also I like to be led by a spiritual leader who is ordained and had official training for reading and interpreting the word, counseling, and to direct larger scale missions.
4. Finally, would you sign up? Would you join this if this were your church?
No. As much as I love my small group and some of the ones I have been apart of, I crave Sundays with a larger and more diverse set of people who are involved in the church and with God in their own level. That means rubbing elbows with seekers who may not be ready to open up in a small group setting or those who like to serve God by doing larger scale missions like setting up AA meetings or Women’s Groups or things that small groups make harder to support. I like the model the Bible gives us for organizing church and think we should probably stick with that model. Again, this isn’t knocking small groups, but why does it have to be either or? I want both!
Todd said...
710/12/07 11:49 AM | Comment Link |
Thanks everyone for your helpful responses! I’ve followed suit and posted my thoughts in a new blog post. You can find it here:
http://www.toddhiestand.com/small-groups-good-or-bad/10/
Tim said...
810/12/07 1:52 PM | Comment Link |
Hey man -
I feel as though I am late in responding to this post but I will nonetheless add my thoughts. As I think about a church that cares more about the individuals who are apart of the church rather than the four walls and the steeple that sits on its roof, I get super excited.
Oftentimes, it seems as though the church has become a vending machine of choices that can be bought for a price rather than a place where people are convicted and life change occurs.
My last thought is: If we look through the OT, the Levites were supposed to live among the people and not have a “set land” for them. In the NT (2 Peter 2), we are called Holy Priesthood… If this is true (and I believe it is), how does that change our perception of doing church? As I continue to compare what I have learned concerning the OT Priests who served God in the OT and I ask questions about how we can apply those things from the OT to our present day culture, I am convinced that maybe we can learn a thing or two from this church that has decided to shut its doors and move out into their community.
I am only stating some things that I need to work through myself. Anyway, these are some things to ponder. Have a great night.
Adam Lehman said...
902/7/08 5:38 AM | Comment Link |
The Bible never speaks of “spiritual,†doesn’t even have a word for “spiritual,†and never uses the phrase “spiritual life,†thus indicating that all growth is spiritual (see Rob Bell’s “everthing is spiritualâ€). Physical growth is spiritual. How I pay my taxes is spiritual. For sure (as indicated by the number of times Jesus speaks about it) how we handle our money/possessions is spiritual. How i treat my neighbor is spiritual. Everything is spiritual.
I say this because is the church world we tend to hold “spiritual growth†up as the crowning form of growth. It seems that - in typical American Christian settings - it is great if you get into shape, but it is much better if you are a good, church member. We hold that up as higher. This is the beginning of a heresy that Paul was confronting: gnosticism. The view that God is only spirit and that all flesh is bad and that only the spirit is good.
That being said, I’ve experience (and my reading has backed me up) that people grow within relationship. The Good News is that we can be reconciled with God and with one another.
Richard Dunn writes that “trust produces relationship. Relationship conceives spiritual life exchanges. Such exchanges are the sacred places where the Holy Spirit reaches through the life of a Christian spiritual caregiver to change forever the life of a student.â€
Read “How People Grow†by Cloud and Townsend. They give excellent insight in the murky water of growth.