Small Group World

06.08.10

Renovation, Perversion, the iPhone4, and Small Groups

Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone4 yesterday. Compared to the generation1 iPhone this thing is amazing. One thing I noticed though… the iPhone hasn't lost her primary identity, the playing of music and the making of and receiving of phone calls. Her primary identity is still central.

I'm not certain this is true of the small group movement. It seems that the small group movement may have lost her identity. Over time variations on the theme seem to have perverted her definition (if it's possible to identify an agreed upon definition), how she functions, and maybe even costs her her identity.

Most small group aficionados would agree on the following principles and practices:

Small groups are just that, small, 4 to 12 people and groups that are larger than that subgroup so that people are strategically relating in a group of 4 to 12
Small groups are more than bible studies, they are people becoming a community for the purpose of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ
In order to become a community, the primary focus is relationship, not curriculum (although choosing right curriculum to meet the needs of a given community is important)
A group of people must do life together over an elongated period of time (longer than the life of a given study or resource) if they are going to become a community
Because a small group has become a community, the innate conversational barriers have come down so group members tell one another to pray for them as they struggle with difficult people, sins that hold them captive, and life situations they cannot handle alone
Small group members unveil their stories. That is their history of broken relationships that continue to haunt and pervert their perception of God and themselves, misdiagnosed perspectives on God and where He was when they needed Him most (but He seemed to make Himself unavailable), etc… That is, experiences that have created hardened hearts. Small groups work in tandem with God to bring healing and wholeness (Isaiah 61: 1 – 2)
A Christian community is on mission through multiplication of the group, sending a group member off to start a new group, and/or carrying out missional responsibilities together

Renovators never mean to be Perverters. Those of us who are natural Renovators are always looking for what's next or long to do something outside the box. Some are purposeful Perverters (although I don't honestly believe they mean to negatively affect the movement). They long to be known, published, etc… so they reveal new ideas and methods and sometimes gain a following. And some Perverters are forced into perverted ways because their primary goal of the group ministry they lead is not transformation. They may be forced by senior pastor or elder expectations to make their groups about assimilation or the delivery of information. And starting with the wrong goal in mind almost always forces leaders down paths that take them into ineffective principles and practices.

Renovation of anything is, in most instances, very positive. Renovation allows a ministry to go places she's never gone before to accomplish things she would have never accomplished had she remained the same. I do wonder though… when does renovation cross the line and become perversion?

Do you think some of the present small group approaches have become perversions? Would love to get your opinion…