John,

Our church introduced small groups about two years ago. The way it was done upset me a lot at that time because Rick Warren's 40 days of PDL was followed. The choice of which small group you wanted to belong to was your own. In my opinion, the small groups were for the majority just closed circles of friends. And it is hard to get into these circles. The small groups were supposed to also reach out to other people, also within the church. Well, no one from any small group ever came to me to enquire about my or my wife's well being. In fact, I think we became more isolated after the introduction of small groups. I really doubt it that the introduction of small groups in our church REALLY made a difference. If it made a difference then I am blind to it.

Last year I did attend a couple of meetings of a group which is not a formal small group in the church. I was shocked to hear the opinions expressed there on what the Gospel is, that there is not much difference between the RCC and Reformed Churches etc. Okay, these people had these ideas whether or not small groups existed or not.

I think one of the main motivations for small groups is that the early church met in houses and that is our example. Of course, there were specific reasons why at that time Christians met in houses. The funny thing though is that while some people say we have to follow the early church in this regard, they do not want to follow Paul's instructions on the role of women in the church. The latter is supposed to be a cultural matter of that time but the former not.

Johan