A number of years ago in Christianity Today magazine, the late John Stott wrote about the power of committed Christians as a group. It’s a great reminder that even as a minority in society, the impact of a church small group can be enormous. It reminded me again of the importance of the unseen, and especially of the importance of a committed church small group. At that time he wrote:
“Christians have the power of group solidarity—the power of a dedicated minority. According to the American sociologist Robert Belair, at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, “We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a whole culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision.” That was the way of Jesus. He began with a small group of only 12 dedicated people. Within a few years, Roman officials complained they were turning the world upside down. There is a great need for dedicated Christian groups committed to one another, committed to a vision of justice, committed to Christ; groups that will pray together, think together, formulate policies together, and get to work together in the community.”
Rather than “every man for himself,” (which is sadly the way of most churches and so many ministries today) what do you think might happen if we actually worked together for social change–even it it wasn’t the whole church but simply a church small group? The implications are enormous. The challenge is – how do we make that happen? I suspect that big changes can happen from the small seed of a church small group.
This article of church small groups originally appeared here, and is used by the author’s kind permission.
