What Role Should Small Groups Play?

A church planter once told me that he thought small groups were so important to the church that if his church members had to choose between Sunday morning congregational worship and the small groups, he would rather them attend the small groups.

At the time, I, along with all the other planters, agreed over the usefulness of small groups, but I thought his thinking was wrong-headed.

As I have thought more deeply upon the role of preaching and God's use of it in the conversion of sinners and the building up of the saints, I am now convinced he was wrong-headed.

I was reminded of our conversion by something Greg Gilbert (senior Pastoral Assistant at Capital Hill Baptist) wrote this past week. He was responding to some comments made about small groups and wrote this:

"Small groups should be used carefully. They shouldn't become the main point of contact for members of the church, nor should they become the main meal of grace for them. That should belong to the preached word and the ordinances. If you consistently hear more people saying that they "get a lot" out of their small groups than say that about the preached word, then you probably should rethink how your small groups are functioning in the life of your church." (full essay here).

What says you?

-Doug

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