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Pastor Says "Churches Should Euthanize Their Small Groups"

Posted Jun 18, 09:02 PM | 3 comments | by Editor | Link

Their are echoes of Joe Myers’ ideas from The Search to Belong and Organic Community in Brian Jones’ blog post from Tuesday entitled “Why Churches Should Euthanize Their Small Groups (And What Should Replace Them).”

Jones, pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, writes, “I have been leading, participating in, championing, and applauding the efforts of small groups for the last 20 years of my ministry. But now I’m done. In my opinion they just don’t work. ...

“I believe in creating disciples … And I believe that this is what the church is called to do … But in most instances disciples are created in spite of the small groups people participate in, not because of them …”

Frank Chiapperino, CCV’s small group guy and the founder of SmallGroupHelp.com, has followed up with a post entitled “Discipleship Happens Everywhere.” Chiapperiono tries to temper the edge of Jones’ thoughts, saying, “In my opinion, the place where most churches and ministry leaders go wrong is they expect discipleship to happen through one program or ministry of the church. Instead, the best way to approach discipleship is through EVERY program and ministry of the church. A small group is just one environment (among many) that aids in discipleship.”

Jones is continuing the discussion with his latest post entitled “Church-Initiated ‘Small Groups’ Begin from a Flawed Starting Point.” Jones writes, “Looking back on my 23 years of following Christ, here’s what I’ve noticed: every ‘small group’ I’ve ever been in that helped me grow as a disciple started by what appeared to be an accident. I wasn’t looking for it. I wasn’t interested in joining a ‘small group’ in the least. And in many respects I didn’t even feel a ‘need’ to grow spiritually. ...

“It just happened, naturally and spontaneously. Those experiences couldn’t have been planned, even if I tried. And for the most part that’s exactly how it’s been happening in the Christian community for, say, I don’t know, the last 1,960 years.

“That is until we westerners, particularly Americans, starting screwing it up.

“Well intentioned Christians, armed with the latest insights in organizational theory, let their pragmatic and utilitarian hearts delude themselves into thinking they could organize, measure, and control the mystical working of the Holy Spirit in community in order to consistently reproduce disciples in other contexts.

“Then these people starting writing books and hosting seminars. And then church leaders like you and me bought into what they were saying because we didn’t recognize that the same faulty worldview that produced a mechanized approach to Christian community fostered a ready-made market in our hearts to consume their quick-fix solutions.”

Jones concludes with this question: “What would happen if we euthanized all of our small groups, taught the value of discipleship and community, and then simply let the Holy Spirit do its work?”

Read the whole thing and keep following the discussion on brianjones.com

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