A while back, I blogged that healthy small groups are friends. I’m not sure why, but this has recently become the most popular post on my blog. Debra commented: “Unhealthy small groups often divide the church into cliques…” The group forms, bonds and no new people stand a chance of joining them. The more groups there are, the more segregated the church. New people see this right away, feel like an outsider, which they are, and don’t go back.
Are Unhealthy Small Groups Dividing Your Church?
Debra may be right if a church’s small groups have not been taught how to develop groups in healthy ways. In my book, 7 Vital Signs of a Healthy Small Group, I wrote about about healthy, authentic community.
RELATED: Small Groups CAN Benefit the Whole Church
A healthy community is never a closed clique. It is open, inviting, welcoming, outward-focused and missional. Healthy community fulfills all of the Great Commandment by loving God, one another and our neighbors as ourselves.
The Best Small Group Leader Ever called his group “friends” (see John 15:12-17). Jesus led a small group and modeled for them how to live in healthy community. He said about himself, “I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders” (Matt. 9:13, The Message). That’s what healthy small groups are here for, too!
