Christianity Today calls it "The Great Small Group Takeover." Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow describes it as a "quiet revolution" happening across North America. Experts on church renewal usually link some form of small group vitality to the revivals and breakthrough churches they study.
Today's small group movement has already impacted many churches in your community. Congregations old and young, large and small have vibrant small groups. Their widespread influence has been documented in everything from Gallup polls to sales trends at local Christian bookstores.
For 30 years I've watched churches experience the miracle of dramatic life change that occurs when the Holy Spirit works through outreach-minded, caring small groups. I've seen Portland, Oregon, touched for Jesus Christ, where an eventual network of 500 trained lay pastors at New Hope Community Church provided effective, ongoing pastoral care to more than 5,000 people.
This return to New Testament community has shown up with many different faces-from Serendipity Groups to generic follow-on small groups that start spontaneously after Promise Keepers rallies. It doesn't matter what you call "social kinship units," as Peter Wagner describes them, but it does matter whether your church is experiencing their many benefits. Do you know how to help your church take part in what God is doing? Is your church experiencing the positive transformation that can happen as one-another ministry ripples through the body of Jesus Christ?
Small group ministry is not an option if people are to be cared for, nurtured, and equipped for ministry. If you follow the listed positive transitions in your church, you will be amazed at what God will do. These 14 principles have been tested and proven-often with exciting results-in hundreds of charismatic and Pentecostal churches. Keep reading
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