Published on: 13/01/2026
A slight change to the blog theme this time in order to think about small groups, home groups, growth groups etc.
The importance of meeting together outside of Sunday worship should not be underestimated. The continuum of meeting publicly for worship and privately for fellowship has always been part of the church’s life, in Acts the church met in the temple and also in private homes. In fact, for the first two hundred years of the church’s life together, meeting in homes, and therefore necessarily in small groups, was the norm.
Small groups are crucial for discipleship in that they create space for the practice of both spiritual disciplines and Christian virtues. small groups are excellent places to learn how to pray in different styles and this can encourage individual ownership of a prayer life. Similarly, Bible study in small groups is a tremendous aid to application of the Bible to daily life and encourages discussion and questions not usually appropriate in a church setting. The Christian virtues of patience, kindness, humility and so on are more easily practiced when there are people around in close proximity to be patient with, kind to and humble towards.
Small groups are also closely associated with the overall numerical growth of the church as well as its spiritual growth. Research in the Diocese of London showed that new churches and church plants thrived when they had small group systems. In his classic research, across 1500 churches on 5 continents, Christian Schwarz found small groups were foundational to growth. Analysis of church growth statistics leads Bob Jackson to conclude that churches should welcome newcomers in but also make sure there is a place of belonging and nurture for them. Both these aspirations are helped by having small groups as a backbone of church life. If we want the Lord to send more sheep, we ought to have sheepfolds ready.
In the run up to lent we will be releasing a short video and some written resources to help churches think about how to establish small groups in church life by using lent courses as a launchpad. Do look out for them on the Diocesan Ebulletin, our social media channels and links in future blogs. In the meantime we have resources already on the Diocesan website for a model for small groups and a podcast series regarding setting up small groups from scratch.
If you want more information or help do get in touch with john.marsh@sheffield.anglican.org or Hannah.sandoval@sheffield.anglican.org
This week’s Blog post was written by John Marsh, Mission Development Adviser