Presbyterian Church Of Bethlehem

The Value of Small Groups In Our Church: According to pastor Keith Brown, We believe so strongly in small groups that one of our requirements for membership is to be part of a koinonia group. Furthermore, small groups are essential in carrying out our design for ministry in at least three significant ways.

"First, small groups are essential for assimilation. If someone didn't have a small group to join, they would soon feel lost. Without small groups we would be just an institution or an organization instead of a Christian community . . .and many people would be falling through the cracks.

"Second, we see our church as an equipping center-equipping people for ministry in the church and in the world. Small groups are our primary discipling units where we teach people how to study the Bible, how to pray, and how to discover their gifts for ministry. They are also the place where we teach people what Christian community means. Because about ninety percent of the people in our church have been-or are now-in a koinonia group, nearly everyone knows what we are talking about when we say ‘koinonia.' They have tasted it, so we can keep calling them to it.

"Third, small groups are one of the best ways for us to develop leadership in the church. As members become part of a koinonia group they learn more about what it means to take responsibility for their own Christian growth as well as for the Christian community to which they are committed. As people understand and practice koinonia and Christian community, they discover their spiritual gifts and find ways to exercise those gifts within the Body of Christ. Small groups have helped us fill a leadership void."

• Sunday worship attendance: 1,400-1,500
• Church growth: "In 1962, when we began our small group ministry, we had approximately 400 people attending our church. I'm convinced that we could never have grown as we have over the years without our small groups for assimilation, nurturing, and discipling."
• People involved in small groups: At any one time we have approximately sixty-five groups involving 650 to 700 people."
• Name for small groups: Koinonia
• Average number of people per group: 10–13
• Frequency of group meetings: In the first phase-when people initially join a koinonia group-they meet weekly for six weeks. Approximately ninety percent of the people continue meeting with their group for the second phase, which meets twice monthly. (We've learned that it is best not to ask people to commit to the second phase until they have had the first small group experience. Our people are so busy that if you asked them if they wanted to join a longer-running group, they would say no. But interestingly enough, around ninety percent of the people continue in the second phase once they have tasted koinonia.)"
• Small group evangelism: "We have found that it is best not to make evangelism a specific emphasis of the groups themselves. We prefer not to tamper with the relationships and commitment within each koinonia group. The primary thrust of the groups is nurturing and equipping people for ministry in their everyday lives."
• Small group leadership: "Each group is led by a trained enabler called a koinonia coordinator. The enablers are all lay people who have come out of our small group ministry. (In the beginning, before we had enough lay leaders, the groups were primarily led by staff people. But over the years, as our small group ministry has grown and equipped people for ministry, the staff people are no longer leading the groups.).

Mistakes We've Made: "I once put together a series of small group questions that turned out to be very threatening to people because the way the questions were answered could easily reveal a person's ignorance of the Bible. Since that experience, I've worked to keep our group members from feeling intimidated, ignorant, or afraid to speak up. We no longer assume that they have any Bible knowledge. And we do everything we can to keep the material as relational as possible. For example, let's take the passage of Scripture where Paul is talking about the Ephesians being ‘in Christ.' Rather than talking about the conceptual or theological meaning of what it means to be in union with Christ, we would ask something like, ‘When is the first time in your life that you began to understand that you, too, were in fact related to Jesus Christ?' This allows each person to discuss the issue as it relates to his or her own personal experience rather than to theological knowledge. When you keep it relational, there is no wrong answer to embarrass people."