CONGREGATIONAL RENEWAL THROUGH SMALL GROUPS

Tom Hilpert

Congregational renewal is ultimately a work of the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is pointless for us to do anything. Certainly, we might do some things to hinder the Holy Spirit’s work in renewing a congregation. Possibly, we might also be able to do some things that establish a firm foundation from which renewal might arise. Picture it like a fire: you might dump a pile of wood any old way into a firepit, and hope that it will catch when the flame comes. Or you might carefully build a structure with paper, followed by small dry sticks, and then slightly bigger ones positioned judiciously over them, and finally, the largest pieces on top. The second structure has a better chance of burning bright and well, when the fire comes. Even so, the structure does not create the flame. The flame of renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit.

What Do We Mean by Congregational Renewal?

Before we go any further, we had best agree on a definition of “congregational renewal,” at least for the purposes of this article. In my mind, congregational renewal is not primarily about numerical growth. If a congregation experiences renewal, it sometimes does result in higher numbers of people in attendance on Sunday morning. But numerical growth alone is not the substance of renewal, nor even the primary goal. I would argue that if there is a relationship between the two, numerical growth is a kind of side-effect of renewal. To look at it another way, it is certainly possible for a church to grow numerically without being renewed spiritually. I think it is also possible to experience congregational renewal without growth in numbers. So consider this practical definition for our discussion here:

Congregational renewal happens when a significant proportion of people in a local church grow closer in experiential fellowship with Jesus Christ, and with one another.

Let me briefly explain a few points of this definition. I chose the words “grow closer in experiential fellowship” because, in a technical and ontological sense, we cannot grow closer to Jesus than we already are. All that has been needed has already been done by Jesus, and applied to believers through the Holy Spirit, by faith.1 At some level, our daily failures not withstanding, we are in perfect union with Him. However, at a practical, experiential, level, I do not always walk in the fulness of my salvation. Congregational renewal is a phenomenon in which people begin to make more practical choices that reflect the reality of their spiritual union with Christ. Their day-to-day lives more fully reflect the reality of their salvation. So, for instance, one marker of congregational renewal might be that more people within the local church are reading their Bibles every day – and getting something out of it! More people might be involved in ministries to serve the community. Prayer might become a bigger feature in personal and congregational life. It could become a more regular occurrence that people in the church share their faith with those who do not know Jesus Christ. There are many other possibilities, including the tendency for sins to be less ubiquitous.

Secondly, in congregational renewal, not only are individuals walking in closer experiential fellowship with Jesus, they are also, in practical ways, living in closer community with one another. Members become more involved in each other’s lives, helping those who hurt, rejoicing with those who rejoice.2 Congregational members find that more of their lives revolve around spending time with others in the church community, and doing things together. In other words, something is happening not just within individuals, but also within the church community as a body.

Another way to describe what we mean by renewal is an increase in real-life discipleship that affects both individuals and the specific local church to which they belong.

In certain Lutheran circles, we might become concerned that if we focus on concrete actions like Bible reading, prayer or evangelism, it could lead to legalism. That is certainly a danger of which we must be watchful. That is why I am describing such things as an outcome, or a sign, of renewal, rather than the cause of it. That is also why I am framing this discussion as merely laying a foundation for the work of the life-giving Spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life, not the letter of the law.

With these understandings, let’s consider one possible way to lay the fire so that it will burn brightly when the life-giving flame of the Spirit comes.

The Importance of a Small Group

When Jesus laid the foundation for his church, it is striking that he invested the vast majority of his time and effort in just twelve people. After his first few miracles, he had access to thousands of people at a time, whenever he wanted. But instead, he poured his time and energy into twelve very flawed individuals. In short, his focus was on a small group.

Here is another definition. A small group, for the purposes of this discussion, is a group of between four and fifteen actively participating adults who communicate with one another. One branch of communication theory describes lines of communication. Between you and I, there are two possible directions for communication to travel: from me to you, and from you to me. When we add a third person, we have six possible directions, or lines, for communication to travel. Between four people, there are twelve lines, and between five people there are twenty. The formula is this: if the number of people in the group is n, then the number of possible directions of communications = n(n-1), which is to say: n multiplied by n-1. When you reach sixteen people, there are two-hundred and forty possible directions for communication to travel. At this point, communication theorists say that you have moved from the interpersonal dynamics of a small group into the dynamics of a large group.

When Jesus laid the foundation for his church, it is striking that he invested the vast majority of his time and effort in just twelve people.

All of this is important when laying the foundations for congregational renewal. Small group dynamics (again, this means 15 active participants or fewer) lend themselves very well to spiritual formation, as Jesus obviously knew. Particularly when it comes to loving one another in the way that the New Testament urges us to, small groups are extremely helpful. For instance, the New Testament tells us to bear one another’s burdens.3 This is not easily done in a large group. I cannot bear the burdens of a hundred other people at once, neither through practical help nor in an emotional sense, not in a way that makes a real-life difference to all one hundred people. But I can bear the burdens of ten other people, particularly when they are also helping to bear the same burdens, as well as my own.

One of the most frequent exhortations in the New Testament is for believers to love one another. If we are talking about the kind of love that really makes a difference to another person, I cannot possibly love a hundred other people well. Hear me clearly: I am not saying you cannot love a hundred people at the same time. I am saying your love cannot be lived out in a daily, significant, practical way with a hundred people at the same time. But if all one hundred people are deeply involved in groups of ten, those groups of ten can love one another in ways that are practical and significant virtually every day.

We often forget that all of the New Testament was written to Christians who lived out their faith together in small groups. As soon as Christians lost the use of synagogues, they had to meet in each other’s homes. Houses in the first century were not particularly large, and so virtually all local churches were, in fact, small groups that met in one another’s homes.

Many New Testament epistles were written to all the Christians who lived within a particular city (like Rome, for instance), but the “church home” of each of those believers was a small group that met in someone’s house. For instance, at the end of Romans, Paul writes: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house.”4

Priscilla and Aquila

At the end of Colossians, he writes: “Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house."5 And at the beginning of Philemon: “To Philemon, our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your house.”6 There are many other such references. When we read the exhortations for Christians to love one another, care for one another, admonish each other, comfort one another, confess sins to each other, and so on, it is important to remember that the expectation was that all of these things would be happening in the context of a small group community. I cannot stress this enough: the background context for all of the New Testament is that Christians lived out their faith together in small groups. This is historical fact. The main New Testament word for fellowship is koinonia. Koinonia is not a coffee hour, nor a general-purpose hall in a church building. Instead, it refers to a life of deep and ongoing relational connection. In fact, Christian koinonia is to be a reflection of the koinonia that flows between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in the official koinonia of all believers: we call it the communion of saints. Far too often however, it seems that we think of that communion as a kind of idealized, theoretical fact, not necessarily connected to everyday life. But if that ideal communion is real, it will result in experiential, practical communion with at least some particular saints. While we live in these bodies of flesh, we cannot maintain experiential koinonia with too many people at once. But in a small group “the communion of the saints” becomes something real, relevant, and practical in a way that it cannot with a larger group. When this happens, it is often lifechanging for people, and so small groups can sometimes become an engine for personal and congregational renewal. For the record, there are important elements of discipleship that are better served in a larger group. I recommend opportunities for both small group and large group interactions in every congregation, but the focus of this article is the small group.

Historic Lutheran Practice

The idea of congregational renewal through intentionally structured small groups is not new to Lutheranism. Martin Luther himself saw the potential inherent in the structure of the New Testament Church. In his introduction to the German mass, he ruminates about the Luther possibilities. Luther begins by saying, “Now there are three kinds of divine service, or mass.” He says the first is the Latin service and the second is the German. Then he writes this:

"The third kind of service should be a truly evangelical order and should not be held in a public place for all sorts of people. But those who want to be Christians in earnest and who profess the gospel with hand and mouth should sign their names and meet alone in a house somewhere to pray, to read, to baptize, to receive the sacrament, and to do other Christian works. According to this order, those who do not lead Christian lives could be known, reproved, corrected, cast out, or excommunicated, according to the rule of Christ, Matthew 18 [:15-17]. Here one could also solicit benevolent gifts to be willingly given and distributed to the poor, according to St. Paul's example, II Corinthians 9. here would be no need of much and elaborate singing. Here one could set up a brief and neat order for baptism and the sacrament and center everything on the Word, prayer, and love."7

Luther

Luther then says the reason he does not pursue this kind of church any further is because the people themselves are not ready yet, and do not know the Word of God well enough. He concludes:

"In short, if one had the kind of people and persons who wanted to be Christians in earnest, the rules and regulations would soon be ready. But as yet I neither can nor desire to begin such a congregation or assembly, or to make rules for it. For I have not yet the people or persons for it, nor do I see many who want it. But if I should be requested to do it and could not refuse with a good conscience, I should gladly do my part and help as best I can."8

He goes on for about a paragraph more, saying that the first two types of church service will have to suffice “until Christians who earnestly love the Word find each other and join together.”

Less than two hundred years later, there were sufficient numbers of Lutherans who were ready for renewal through small groups. Philip Jacob Spener, a senior minister in Frankfurt, began to gather lay people into small groups, initially in his own home. Members of the group prayed, and discussed the week’s sermon or a devotional reading. As time went on, discussions were more frequently focused on passages from the Bible. These groups came to be called “colleges of piety.” Spener’s vision for these small groups was: “To reintroduce the ancient and apostolic kind of church meetings. In addition to our customary services with preaching, other assemblies would also be held in the manner in which Paul describes them in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40.”9

Spener

As with any significant historical figure, there are many criticisms of Spener. Some of these are, no doubt, justified, and some are certainly not. It is outside the scope of this article to address those critiques. I will say that, in spite of the claim of some that Spener was a legalist, he understood that renewal is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, and must begin not with action, but rather inner transformation effected through hearing the word of God in faith:

"Our whole Christian religion consists of the inner man or the new man, whose soul is faith and whose expressions are the fruits of life, and all sermons should be aimed at this. On the one hand, the precious benefactions of God, which are directed toward this inner man, should be presented in such a way that faith, and hence the inner man, may ever be strengthened more and more. On the other hand, works should be so set in motion that we may by no means be content merely to have the people refrain from outward vices and practice outward virtues and thus be concerned only with the outward man, which the ethics of the heathen can also accomplish, but that we lay the right foundation in the heart, show that what does not proceed from this foundation is mere hypocrisy, and hence accustom the people first to work on what is inward (awaken love of God and neighbor through suitable means) and only then to act accordingly.10

It is beyond dispute that the gathering of lay people into small groups that Spener began became a powerful engine for a significant spiritual renewal among Lutherans, and, in fact, well beyond Lutheranism. Many people have heard of George Müller, the founder of a famous ministry for orphans, receiver of many miracles of provision, and advocate for missions. Müller was actually converted through a small group that traced its spiritual heritage to Spener’s colleges of piety. In truth, the renewal that began with Spener’s writing and small group ministry had far-reaching effects that still reverberate even today.

Müller

A Few Practical Thoughts

In my own small way, I have been working with small groups for the past twenty-five years. At their best, small groups can be a dynamic vehicle for the power, presence and purpose of Jesus Christ. I have learned a few things, mostly about what doesn’t work, about what hinders the work of renewal. If you are interested in establishing small groups in your congregation, I offer the following suggestions with humility:

1) Small groups work best when they meet regularly and frequently. It is very difficult to build real community – koinonia – in a group that meets only once each month, or when the meeting day is irregular. My own experience suggests that the most successful small groups will meet weekly, on the same day each week. Rotating from house to house is fine, although that is best done on a monthly basis.

2) Small groups provide personal and congregational renewal more reliably if certain patterns of life together are observed. In other words, these are not merely social gatherings, nor simply Bible studies. Effective small groups worship together, pray together, study God’s word together, and engage together in works of service, and do things together socially. A healthy, effective small group becomes a unit of what I call “basic Christian community.” It becomes the context in which actual discipleship is lived out.

Effective small groups worship together, pray together, study God’s word together, and engage together in works of service, and do things together socially.

3) Small groups need a leader. This is not someone who does everything for the group, but rather is a facilitator, who takes responsibility to ensure that the group stays on track. Good small group facilitators are caring and responsible, and help others to become involved, rather than doing everything themselves. The leader, should of course, be responsive and cooperative with the pastor and leadership of the larger congregation.

The biggest sticking point in developing new small groups is finding leaders. Part of the life of every group should be encouraging people to develop their gifts and passions for the Lord, with an eye toward finding the next person who will lead a new group. If possible, it is best if the pastor leads only an initial group, and lay people are equipped to be the main leaders of new groups.

Conclusion

Our Lord Jesus Christ understood that small groups were a powerful vehicle for helping people to follow him more fully in daily life. Small group ministries have been part of Christianity since the beginning, and have also been a significant force for renewal in the Lutheran branch of Christianity.

Small groups are not complicated. The ideas and forms are straightforward, but they provide a structure that is uniquely suited to catch the flame of the Holy Spirit in renewing individuals and congregations.

The Rev. Tom Hilpert, a seasoned church planter, received his bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, and his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from the American Lutheran Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He makes his home in the woods of Tennessee near Nashville, with his wife, Kari Hilpert and children, but he spent his formative years in Papua New Guinea, the son of missionary parents. Currently, Pastor Tom serves New Joy Fellowship in Tennessee and as the director of Life Together Churches. A ministry partner of the NALC, Life Together Churches is a network that supports people hosting worship and congregational life in small group environments, such as: house churches, missional communities, and mission fellowships.

Endnotes:

1Romans 6:3-11; 7:4; Galatians 2:19-21

21 Corinthians 12:24b-27

3Galatians 6:2

4Romans 16:3-5, The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2016). All of the subsequent Bible references in this paper are also from the ESV translation, italic formatting added for emphasis.

5Col 4:15, italic formatting added for emphasis.

6Philemon 1:2, italic formatting added for emphasis.

7Martin Luther, “Preface of The German Mass and Order of Service,” in Luther's Works, American Edition, Vol. 53, edited by Ulrich S. Leupold, General Editor Helmut T. Lehmann (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 1963), 62-64.

8Ibid., 62-64.

9Philip Jacob Spener, “More Extensive Use of the Scriptures” in Pia Desideria (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1964), Kindle Edition.

10 Ibid., “Preaching for the Purposes of Edification,” bold format added for emphasis.