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By David C. Roth

Purpose of a Church

The purpose of a minister, according to the Writings is to teach and to lead people by means of truths to a life of good. The minister is also to care deeply about people's spiritual well being. As the Writings say, "to care for the salvation of souls." This can mean many things and find many diverse ways to carry this "caring for souls" out.

The purpose of a church, first and foremost, is to be a forum whereby the Lord can be known by means of His Word. This does not mean only instruction but also letting the Lord "be known" by our kindness and fellowship with each other. In this way the church is like a family. In this church family we care for one another's spiritual, emotional, and often times natural needs. Sometimes if the family is too large some of its members feel isolated or left out of the family-perhaps not understood or appreciated. This is where I see the use of Cell Groups fitting nicely into and adding a lot to the life of the church.

What Are and Why Small Groups?

Small Groups are rather self-explanatory. They consist of a group of 8 to 12 people who meet for a specific purpose. They help keep a large group small by providing a safe place for people to get to know each other and to grow together in the life of the church. Even if the church has 1000 people in attendance, every person is still part of a small 8 to12 person "family."

Why Do We Need Them?

I see three main reason why we need small groups. One is that those of us who are in the church already need a place to feel cared for and to build friendships. Some people who come to our church have no felt need or desire to do this-but I think most of us do. The second reason comes by way of example: If a newcomer comes into our church without knowing anybody she has a long road ahead of her. If she has a boyfriend or husband it is a little easier-at least she is not alone. But otherwise she has to spend months or years working on getting to know people so she feels at home. Until she feels at home this church will not be her church, so to speak. If all she has is one and one half hours a week in a large setting like Sunday worship to get to know people well, it will take a long, long time. A small group is a place where she can be invited by one of the leaders or hosts, after she feels comfortable with that (Maybe after three or four visits), and meet people and build deep friendships so that this body of a church becomes a living thriving family to her. That's my hope.

The third reason is for pastoral care. I know from experience that it is hard to know how everybody in a group is doing. On several occasions I have found out that someone was in the hospital on the day that they were leaving or only after they had already been released. To me that is a shame. It is impossible for a pastor to care for a large group properly unless he has the help of other people who either let him know how others are doing or to care for the people in some sort of pastoral capacity. The small group system acts like a family by providing care to someone who is hurting, either by visiting and talking to them him or herself or by letting the pastor know that somebody needs some care. This broadens the reach of any pastor and helps everyone to be looked after more closely.

As a footnote, it might be of interest to you to know that in all of the seminars that I have gone to on church growth and small group ministries they teach very strongly that every church that is growing and healthy is doing so because of successful small groups in their church. Not everybody in their church attends them but it is a large percentage in the 75-85% range. They say it is the lifeblood of any healthy church.

What is our purpose in attempting to bring together a group of 10 to 12 people in a cell group?

It's a social function
Builds community
It's a safe\intimate place to make friends
Different setting other than Sunday morning to socialize
To see other people's homes
Meet new people
New contacts
Build relationships
Avenue for newcomers
Helps break down assumptions we might have about people
Space for conversation [real or not so real-doesn't matter]
Entertainment [some interesting people in the church]
Learning experience
How Would We Do Them?

The traditional way that churches do these groups is to have a team of leaders, let's call them the Leader's Team. This team is made up of all the people who would be responsible for their own small group. This responsibility involves meeting with the Leader's Team once a month as a small group to discuss how their small group is going. It is making sure that the leaders' needs are cared for as well. It also is a forum whereby the pastor or pastors can keep a closer pulse on how the church is going.

The people on this Leader's Team are also responsible for making sure that their small group gets together. This does not mean that they have to lead it or host it every time, just that they make the arrangements-they are like an overseer. It might make sense to divideup the groups initially by region where we have a grouping of people.

With this scenario everybody fits in somewhere. Some people will take more time to figure out where they fit best. Everyone is cared for-even the leaders. Also, the Leader's Team meeting gives us a chance as a group of people to consider how to best welcome the newcomers into the life of the church. For example, in Chicago, if a newcomer came from Lincoln Park we could put him or her into that group. But we would also take into consideration which group they would feel most comfortable in.

The idea is to always have an open spot for a newcomer in your group. Some groups do this very emphatically by having an actual empty chair sitting out for whoever it is that will fill it. Some even pray that that empty chair might be filled the next week.

What happens if a group gets too large? The group should be considering from the start that this might happen. So in every group there is an apprentice, so to speak. This person or this couple is learning how to lead a group so that when the time comes they can divide (cell division-just like how a fertilized egg grows). This is much more desirable than being too large of a group. Then of course these two groups then grow and eventually may themselves divide. That makes four groups out of one original. Which translates to forty people being cared for from a starting group of ten.

- The reason I emphasize this so much is that churches tend to lose a tremendous number of people who fall through the cracks. This could prevent this from happening.

What Would People Do In These Groups?

That is up to the group itself as a whole. However, the leaders could be given some ideas and suggestions for what they can do as a group if they want them. What the Christian groups do, which by the way is very structured, is they begin with fifteen minutes of getting to know each other activities (which in Chicago are affectionately called "Grant's stupid games"). They then do a Bible study or discussion for 30 minutes to an hour, followed by 20 minutes of caring time, which is land of like a "How are you," in a spiritual growth group.

This is of course just an example of what they do. We are free to do what we want, although I believe that some structure would be quite helpful. I believe a healthy plan is to have these groups meet once a month or more. If a group decides that it wants to meet every -week that is great, but that is up to the group and its leaders.

I think that the actual leadership of the meeting should be passed between different people so that the same person doesn't have to lead each time (that is if the group wants to be led in anything). The hosting of the meeting could be shared so that the same person(s) is not burned out And a different person could be in charge of refreshments each time as well. So every group has for each meeting:

1. A Leader and Coordinator (same every time)
2. A Leader of the meeting
3. A Host
4. A Refreshments person

Other Considerations

The groups could meet during the week rather than always on the weekend, if that would be helpful. The Church would still have parties and other social events so that people can meet others in the church.

Summary of Benefits

1. Lots of involvement in leadership and pastoral positions.
2. Everyone is invited every time.
3. People's needs are addressed more closely
4. Responsibility is spread out in the groups (no bum out)
5. The group decides on its own agenda
6. Allowance and provision for growth is built into the system
7. Helps a church to build a close knit feeling
8. It will fill in many of our cracks in taking care of visitors
9. People don't always have to come to the church to do stuff with their church friends.
10. The leaders needs are filled as well.