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Importance of Small Group Strategy for Small Church
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Paul Jang
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2008-03-29 00:21:51, hit : 2,957 |
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Importance of Small Group Strategy for Small Church
From the start there are few large churches except for the churches which may have been divided from a big churches. Most of the churches are generally small at the beginning. Peter C. Wagner pointed out that every large church was once a small church, explaining the relationship between large churches and small churches as follows:
If smaller churches are growning they eventually will become large churches. Just as every river was once a stream, every large church was once a small church. When this happens, new small churches will continually be needed (Wagner 1984, 99).
The primitive form of the small church was a small group before it has become a large church. The small group strategy for the growth of small church is therefore very important.
It is very difficult for small sized churches to try to operate the strategy for mass evangelism due to lake of workable people. The small churches therefore must plan man-to-man strategy for the church growth. In so doing, it must be needed to make each of them have a qualification as lay-evangelist when they are small. The man-to-man strategy for the growth of the church will be failed. As the result of the failure the churches cannot get rid of the small church syndrome.
D. Dewayne Davenport pointed out that the small church syndrome is a disease which cannot tolerate a church to go beyond 300, and suggested to read chapter two in his book, The Bible Says Grow if someone still feel that God wants our congregations to stay small (Davenport 1978, 21). In obedience to the Great Commandment of Jesus Christ the small churches also have to grow using the small group strategy which must be pertinent to promote the church growth (Matt. 28:19-20). The small group strategy is very important for small church to grow both in quantity and quality.
Clyde Reid emphasized that small group is of importance because it can satisfy love and human desire which cannot get among the crowd of thousand of people (Reid 1969, 16). Rev. Han Hum Ok, senior pastor of Sa Rang Church in Seoul, Korea, the membeship of which has become around 10,000 since starting the church with a small group of only nine members in 1978 (Ok 1984, 251) has firmly said that small group strategy is the best biblical method that we must afford an environment which can give a great effect on the life of many people through the words of God (Ok 1984, 198).
Robert E. Maner emphasized the importance of small group ministry as follow:
The small-group ministry is an asset toward growth as well as a quality ministry to people. The importance of keeping our ministry as a "ministry to people" cannot be overemphasized. People is what the church is all about. People must always be primary in the whole organization. People, real people, with names and faces, people with children and homes--that is the church....People! Nothing should ever crowd them out of the picture. This is why the small-group ministry is so important. Many people can't handle the situation created by a large crowd where they become anonymous (Maner 1982, 32).
The small group strategy must be the most opportunity to lay the foundation of church growth because its people may be the base membership. And so they must be thoroughly trained in the words of the Bible for the purpose of its solid foundation. It is very important to lay the basis of the church through the thoroughly trained members looking to the future of the church growth because it may be destroyed when it is tempted by something wrong caused by Satan (Act. 20:29). On this point Jesus Christ has explained very clearly to the crowds as follows:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the storms rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone hears these words of mine and does not put then into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash (Matt. 7:24-27 NIV).
The paragraphs shown above must mean the teachings of Jesus Christ on the spiritual church foundation and on the individual faith foundation at the same time. Looking into the matthew 16:18, it is very clearly that the foundation means that of the church of Christ in the light of the paragrph, that is to say" and I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Jesus requested him to make the confession of his faith toward Himself, on the foundation of his confession of which He promised to establish His church (Matt. 16:18).
It is no doubt that the foundation of his churches (Matt. 16:18) would have been laid by small group at the beginning of the churches since the first church consisted of twelve members of Jesus' disiciples. Juan Carlos Ortiz has said that the small/cell groups are the bones and muscles (Ortiz 1975, tans. by Kim 1989, 167). Nevertheless there are some weaknesses in the small group strategy. One of those is that it has a weakness of what the typical small church is not organize to grow, but is organize to remain on a plateau in size because the small church tends to focus on nuture, not mission (Schaller 1989, 18, 19).
Therefore the small church must laid its solid foundation, and outreach to the people in the world at the same time. Carl F. George emphasized that there is more to growth than ministry methodology and the more important issue, no matter what the outward approach looks like, is the multiplication of ministry through groups and teams (George 1993, 67).
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Introduction
Ch Growth 