Where did small groups start? Are cell groups (small groups, care groups) a New Testament pattern? Which denominations, other than the Methodists, promote the use of small groups?
—Joshua
Though there’s a lot we don’t know about the early church, we can learn a lot from the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul. Paul uses the word “ekklesia,” which from pre-Christian days meant “any gathering of a group of people,” to refer to a gathering of people before God. The gatherings were usually small, probably 30 members on average, and the people often belonged to the same household or guild. Sometimes several such groups met together, but this was probably rare before the third century, when special buildings for Christian worship began to be constructed.
Small groups of Christians met regularly (weekly or perhaps monthly) for worship, encouragement, and instruction as early as the first decades of Christianity, but it’s not quite accurate to call them “small groups” in the contemporary sense. These groups didn’t think of themselves as the more personal, relational aspect of a larger church, as many small groups do now—they were the only church that members knew.
For centuries after the establishment of church buildings, religious activity among laypeople tended to be centered in the local church and the home. (Monastic groups constitute another type of spiritual community, but because of the time and lifestyle commitments required, the monastic experience is fundamentally different from any modern small group.) Low literacy and a lack of access to the Scriptures discouraged the formation of Bible study groups, and sometimes clergy discouraged it as well, fearing sectarianism and unorthodox teaching. Martin Luther and John Calvin strongly encouraged teaching and discipleship in the home (“Every family of the pious ought to be a church,” Calvin said), but they didn’t advocate anything quite like modern interfamily, often mono-generational, small groups.
In the seventeenth century, Pietists on the European continent and Dissenters in Britain revived the “house church” ideal in contrast to state churches (Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican) that they considered spiritually dead. John Wesley, who had contact with Pietists and Dissenters, encouraged all Methodists to meet in groups outside of their local church, even though such meetings could lead to persecution. But Wesley also expected Methodists to keep attending Anglican churches, as he did. He’s perhaps the first to think of small group participation as an addition to regular church attendance, not a replacement for it.
Today, all sorts of churches advocate small groups for study, prayer, accountability, and fellowship. Such groups are most active in evangelical churches (broadly defined) but can be found just about everywhere.
* An interesting Ph.D. project on the history of small groups can be found here: History of The Cell Movement
* This article from CH issue 69: The Wesleys is also relevant: Spare the Rod and Spoil the Church.
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