#149 How to Multiply a Small Group
Comiskey makes many arguments about the importance and normality of house churches for Christianity. He writes, “The fact is that the early Christians met primarily in the homes of individual members over a period of nearly three hundred years.” These small communities allow for discipleship and individual growth in the context of community. Comiskey writes that, “God designed the early house churches to be a practical demonstration of his power to transform the social order. House churches were a training ground for Christian community and an example of living for Christ.” In many ways this has become the foundation for small group ministry today. When Paul wrote in Romans 16:5b (NASB) “greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia” we see evidence of the church and conversions taking place in homes.
In the future, I plan to use this information and what I have learned in this class to multiply small groups in a few ways. I am going to use the group structure of having an apprentice and group leader making it easy for multiplication to happen. I also plan to have a group covenant. I like the covenant model from one of the small group ministries that I am currently a part of and will likely implement something somewhat similar. Teh group, Holy Smoke, has three rules. The rules are one participate, which means everyone is supposed to speak up and share or be quiet if they talk too much. Two is personal, only share your own stories not other peoples stories. And three it is private, which means you don’t share everything that was discussed with other people outside the group. These three rules help to keep the conversation real. The group also has a challenge coin and rules that go with it. Such as praying for the group daily and inviting others to the group regularly. This allows for everyone to be on the same page about the purpose of the group, rules, etc. Thinking of small groups as a form of house church that is subordinate to the local church I believe is a meaningful way to purpose discipleship. I plan to make discipleship a central aspect of the small groups that I start.
Joel Comiskey, Biblical Foundations for the Cell-Based Church: New Testament Insights for the 21st Century Church (CCS Publishing, 2012), 87-88.
Joel Comiskey, Biblical Foundations for the Cell-Based Church: New Testament Insights for the 21st Century Church (CCS Publishing, 2012), 107.
