As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The church did not ‘close,’ because the church is a body of believers — not a building, not a service, not an institution…. But Zoom fatigue set in quickly. I predict there’s a coming small groups boom, because online groups are just not the same as in-person groups. Right now you are in an unprecedented moment” - C.Leaders
“ ‘Megachurch 2020,’ a survey conducted by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability in partnership with the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, found that overwhelmingly, small groups are central to megachurches’ spiritual formation of members.” - CPost
“Our church has used state guidelines to inform our decisions in order to protect our congregation and the public at large as we see this as the best way to love our neighbor and be a good witness to our community.” - C.Post
“More and more churches seem to be moving to a sermon-based curriculum for their small groups. That is, they review and study the same text the pastor preached on the previous Sunday. On the other hand, I’ve met church leaders who oppose this approach. Here’s a summary of the arguments I’m hearing” - Church Leaders
From Faith Pulpit, Winter 2015. Used by permission, all rights reserved.
The venerable adult Sunday School class has not been doing well recently. Most churches still have one or more adult Sunday School classes (though some churches have already abandoned them), but a new adult ministry seems to be getting the priority these days—small groups.
I believe that one reason for the popularity of small groups is that in many cases we have not done adult Sunday School well. Adult Sunday Schools in many churches have become stale and lifeless, so we have looked for a new ministry. Small groups seem like the answer to the problems of adult Sunday School classes.
Most of us are familiar with adult Sunday School classes. Churches have had them for decades. Smaller churches may have only one class while larger churches have multiple classes. Churches that have more than one adult class may group the adults by ages (my preference) or allow adults to attend any class they want. Many churches today call the adult classes Adult Bible Fellowships (ABFs).
Discussion