One of the things that I’ve been thinking quite a bit about recently is how a church develops pastoral care as it grows from being a small church plant, a group of young friends that know each other well to being a medium to large sized established multigenerational and multi-cultural church. You can listen to… Continue reading Developing pastoral care systems
Tag: small groups
Not a great Bible study but not necessarily the worst possible
Robin Barfield writes in Evangelicals Now: “What is your ideal Bible study? It may be one where your young people give you all the correct answers, quietly nodding as you dispense wisdom, and you get through all the questions you had prepared. I want to suggest that this may be the worst possible study!”[1] As… Continue reading Not a great Bible study but not necessarily the worst possible
Why your small group is probably not a church: Three red herrings and the real reason
This article has been circulating around conservative-evangelical circles in the last couple of weeks. I’m not sure whether or not there is a serious issue anywhere with anyone really thinking that their home group/life group is a church. So first of all, I would be intrigued as to what prompted the article. It looks like… Continue reading Why your small group is probably not a church: Three red herrings and the real reason
No -small groups are not a replacement for the church but Sam Allberry’s reasoning is wrong
For some reason, this 2016 article from The Gospel Coaltion cropped up on my timeline recentlyam Allberry writes that small groups are not a direct replacement for the church. I must admit that I’m a little confused about the target of his article. I’m not sure who is claiming that they are. The result is… Continue reading No -small groups are not a replacement for the church but Sam Allberry’s reasoning is wrong
Are small groups overrated?
Jonathan Carswell was seeking to provoke a bit of discussion with this tweet -and he succeeded. So, what do you think? Are they overrated, ineffective and unaccountable? It’s worth noting at this stage that Jonathan is making a relative comparison to the other ministries run in a local church, presumably including your retired ladies meeting,… Continue reading Are small groups overrated?
COVID’s long tail and the church
Remember when we thought that the pandemic would be dealt with by the short sharp shock of lockdown and then we would be back to church as normal again. We looked forward to those summer services when would be gathering back, packing in to services with a sense of thanksgiving. Those optimistic days seem a… Continue reading COVID’s long tail and the church
Building back better -discipleship after lockdown
Some of our churches are going to need to do some building back after lockdown. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t think that we were pandemic proof and so COVID-19 hit us like a full on Tsumani. Yet, in many respects, what the pandemic took out for our churches was not the real stuff. We… Continue reading Building back better -discipleship after lockdown
Unlearning being a pastor
Okay, I admit it. I find home groups hard work. As a pastor, it was always that sense of being on duty, of being responsible for what happened. Your mind was constantly alert, even when not leading the group. Was everyone engaged, did anyone seem uncomfortable, was anyone acting in an inappropriate way to make… Continue reading Unlearning being a pastor
Recreating the home group and restoring the prayer meeting
Discussing with a few people the demise of the prayer meeting the other day, I was struck by a thought. The problem is with our home groups. One of the main reasons that you won’t seem many people at traditional prayer meetings is that they have been replaced by Home Groups. The problem is that… Continue reading Recreating the home group and restoring the prayer meeting
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