LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

ANALYSIS PAPER 2

DSMN 630
SMALL GROUP MINISTRY

BY
ELLIOT SANCHEZ

NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Arnold has a novel idea of reproduction of oneself through small groups. The making of disciples should be the basis of small groups. The main theme of these chapters would be Matthew 28:16-20 “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (NIV). The main method of making a disciple is not only to learn from someone but more importantly to see someone live it out. Jesus was the perfect example of this. Jesus taught His disciples with the love of His Father in everything He did. He showed his followers by living out what He spoke of. Much of what Arnold was stating in his writing was very similar to what Cominsky was writing about. One area I enjoyed about Arnold writings is found in the early church. I enjoyed the authors teaching on the early church and how they learned from each other multiplying by example. It is interesting to see the people of the early church spend all their time together. Acts 2:42-47 states they did everything together, and they meaning the early church believers, and they had everything in common. These small groups of converts eat together, learned together and the church grew and this was the way they conducted themselves. Earley and Dempsey’s reading thus far is very interesting. The main idea is reproduction of the leaders, who are familiar enough with the idea of reproduction. When leaders are equipped and have the purpose of reproducing themselves it is very easy for the group to grow into other cells which grow themselves because the ideas around the group of cells are to reproduce themselves like cells in our bodies. The constant idea of reproducing is clear in the passages Earley and Dempsey put forth. If someone did not have an understanding then after reading the chapters and the whole of the book then they would know when one would complete the reading. When asked about what does it mean when we talk about disciples? One could answer right off the top of their head one of the twelve Jesus had. The answer would be true but more importantly what it is. A disciple is one who would give up everything for a reason such to follow Jesus. This person would give up their family, job, money and so forth in order to learn from Jesus. Is this possible today, possibly, but more important even if they did not walk away from everything does this disciple spend an amount of time with the person he or she is learning from to gain a proper understanding from the person they are learning about. The only way to learn and reproduce Jesus is to spend time learning about Him and allowing the information to transform your life. Our congregation does have small groups. I firmly believe our group members do not go to experience life together. Many of them as I have visited all of them go because they feel obligated to go but many of them do not talk to each outside of the normal surface level things in life. The groups have been going on for over a year and within this time one would think these groups would be close to each other experiencing life together. As a matter of fact our ninety percent of our congregation does not belong to a life group, and much of our group’s cycle through different people rather than growing and or reproducing. There is no accountability within the groups at all. Quite often the groups do not speak to each other outside of meeting at the house of God and meeting for group. Here is only a small select group of people which attend the groups yet there is not a single person who would say the people attending their groups would first of allow someone to hold them accountable for anything in their life. This is an area which we are church leaders are trying to figure out, and thus far we are coming up blank. I can honestly say there are many in our congregation that do not feel loved at all. I am constantly calling people on a weekly basis and asking how they are doing and there is an overwhelming conscience within our congregation they do not feel loved by others in the church and or other people within their small groups. This is the biggest problem I see with our small groups. They have the appearance of close groups but these relationships are only but surface deep. Love should be the driving force of the groups. If the groups within our congregation are truly living life together then they should be experiencing everything together. The very purpose of living life together as the early church did was the love one another had for each other. This is lacking in our church as many of the groups are so use to technology it has almost become a replacement for living together. I can honestly say the structure of our small groups are not designed to allow for and reinforce growth. The groups are barely holding on for sustainability. The church plant we have is filled with baby Christians even though they have been believers most of their lives. It would appear within the seven groups that exist within our congregation of roughly four hundred people only 60 people are a part of groups and these groups are struggling to hold on to them. We are struggling as a church to have people join a group. I have come to understand the reason behind this low attendance is simply people do not feel the love of Christ through others therefore they are at a place where they do not want to go and feel less loved then they already do in the house of God. I believe we are in a season which we have members of a clique rather than members of a small group. Members of clique are surface deep, they are a part of the groups simply to appease themselves rather than adding anything significant to the growth of the group. Members of clique never really want to get deep into relationships because they do not want to be called out for anything nor do they want to take on the responsibility to call anyone else out. This is where I know our members are at. In looking at Comkinsky website I enjoyed very much reading about the helpful language for the Hebrew words which The word edah is regularly used to refer to the gathered congregation of Israel as a whole. However, it is the word qahal which serves as the basis for the N.T. concept of the church. The word qahal refers to a summons to an assembly and the act of assembling. Millard Erickson helps clarify this meaning when he says, “It is not so much a specification of the members of the assembly as a designation of the occurrence of assembling. A religious significance sometimes attaches to the word (e.g., Deut. 9:10; 10:4; 23:1-3). The term can also denote a more general assembly of the people ((e.g., I Kings 12:3). Women (Jer. 44:15) and even children (Ezra 10:1; Neh. 8:2) are included. The term is also used of the gathering of troops, and in Ezekiel it refers to nations other than Israel (1984:1031).

Bibliography
Coenen, Lothar. “Church.” The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. ed. Colin Brown. vol. I. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1975

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[ 1 ]. Coenen, Lothar 1975 “Church.” The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. ed. Colin Brown. vol. I. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.