Why Small Groups Matter to Me

I've had a passion for small groups since my very first group.

When I was a new Christian, I started searching for a church. After three months of searching on my own, I finally decided to pray about it. I asked God to help me find a church like the one in the Book of Acts, which I had just started reading, a church where I could make friends and grow in my new faith. I lived by myself in a one-bedroom apartment and had no family in the area. My only acquaintances were people I worked with, most of whom were not Christians. The next day I came home from work and got a strange call. It was a wrong number—misdialed by one number. Before I could hang up, though, the lady on the other end asked me if she could tell me a little about her church. It turns out they were calling people in the neighborhood to invite them to their Easter Sunday services. My number wasn't on their list, but it appears God had other plans.

As I walked through the front doors of that church building the following Sunday morning, an older couple named Harvey and Shirley greeted me warmly and asked me about myself. They invited me to their house for iced tea on their back porch. And before the service concluded, they introduced me to some people my age, who in turn invited me to their small group. I don't think I've ever felt so accepted. At the same time, I was really unsure about attending a small group. I'd never heard of small groups, but I decided to give it a try. Read more