Showing posts with label home groups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home groups. Show all posts

Thursday, October 30, 2025

SUPPORT THROUGH SMALL GROUPS

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  (Galatians 6:2)

It’s amazing to me that some people think the small group movement is a new thing. Small groups are as old as the Bible, and they are so essential. Jesus knew how important it is to have our family and our friends helping us, surrounding us with love, supporting us, encouraging us, setting us free in every moment, but especially in those dramatic moments when we are trying to make a new start with our lives.

Recently a man stopped by to see me. A little over a year ago, he went through a great personal tragedy. He is coming through it with the help of God and with the help of the church, especially his adult Sunday school class. He said, “I was devastated. I was disillusioned and defeated and saw no hope for the future and no relief for my pain. I was so hurt that I was immobilized. All the life was drained out of me, but God brought me back to life… and this church has been there for me every step of the way. My Sunday school class has been so incredible. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I couldn’t have made it without them.”

You know what he was saying, don’t you? He was saying, “God brought me out of the tomb, and my friends in my small group helped me, and supported me… and together, by the grace of God, they loved me back to life.” 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!” 


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Wednesday, July 20, 2022

MAINTAINING THE GLOW

“Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  (Hebrews 10:25 BSB)

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Methodist awakening in the 1700s was organizing people into groups in order to "maintain the glow" that the Lord had ignited in the hearts of so many. Thus, every Methodist conference (or regional group) would be subdivided into classes, every member expected to participate in a class -- 12 persons with a leader. And the classes, like home groups today, would meet once a week between Sundays. Under the class leader, these small groups would pray together, discuss Scripture, share their experience with each other, and try to encourage each other. 

-- Marshall Shelley in “Leadership Journal”


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