Small Groups or Sunday School?
I have been thinking through disciple-making in the church. I find we have stripped out the idea of relational discipleship and have replaced it with program discipleship. I’m not sure there’s enough built in accountability for transformation to take place in program discipleship. Program discipleship premises itself on come, listen, do better, and leave. It’s primarily knowledge based. Application is left to the listener or attender.
Are we making disciples in the western church?
Which do you think makes a better disciple: small groups OR Sunday School Classes?
Small groups are a lot more effective. Sunday school takes place early in the morning when everyone’s tired and often focused on all we have to accomplish in the day. It’s so easy to zone out, especially if there’s not much interactive communication. And the accountability friendship needed for discipleship never happens in that environment. At best we’ll meet once a month for fellowship at a restaurant, but still no discipleship. In a small group, especially if it takes place in someone’s home, you have a far greater ability to connect one-on-one with others. And if it’s in the evening when the day is pretty much done, your focus is on what you’re there to study and those you’re studying with. The environment is intimate, and warm, and people are way more likely to open up and share what’s really on their hearts as opposed to how in SS so many just seem to want to have a answer that sounds good. I hear more cliches and less honest sharing in SS than anywhere else. And the trend to replacing SS with small groups in homes is growing. I even know of a church out in Weatherford that’s done it. They haven’t had SS in years. But nearly everyone’s linked into a small group. And they’re growing big time. There is one problem I see with making this transition though. Seniors usually resist it big time, and in eliminating SS you can easily loose this group, and no one wants that. So how does the church make this transition without loosing a vital part of their membership?
Patti,
I agree with all you said. I have found small groups seem to do more of what Acts 2 describes. Sunday School is so content oriented that you have to have another meeting to do fellowship and ministry. It’s not always true, but I am desiring to get a handle on this thing. The reason why is I am wondering if SS makes as good a disciple as a small group.
You’re correct, the transition would be tough. I would recommend much prayer and starting small.
Were you in the young adult small group at my house at Hillcrest? We saw more happen in that group than we did in a SS class. Do you remember the Cafe class Jeana started?
Yes I was in your small group…and loved it. And I was in the Cafe class some of the time also. Both were good, but being in your home small group was best. It’s personal, intimate. That atmosphere made it possible for us to talk more openly about our prayer lives and fasting. If I remember right the studied was about the disciplines of prayer. It was so much better than any SS class I’ve been to since. At IBC we’ve been having small groups meeting in homes on Sunday evenings. Paul and I facilitated one last quarter but there were issues that made me not want to do it again this time. Mostly because we did that and still had SS. It was too much. I had no margin in my life and was beginning to sacrifice my quiet time. So I took a break from it. Also, it was quite a struggle to get the group to be comfortable with worship. I led them in a couple of songs and felt like I was almost singing solos. I even had 2 in my class that just sat in silence as we sang. It was weird. There was a couple of really good things that came out of it though. One in the group invited an unchurched neighbor that need the ministry we had to offer…and that turned out great. And it gave some of the young people an opportunity to hang out with older folks. We loved getting to hear them share there life experiences. It was good, but we did not have as much intimacy as we did at your home. Guess that’s something you have to achieve over time.