What Is A Small Group?

Before you can implement an effective groups system, you have to first define what a small group is. For each church, that may look a little different. Are you a complete Free Market system where any group of people gathered constitutes a small group? Does each group have to have certain elements in it to qualify as an official small group?

At Cross Point, we have decided that our community groups must consist of 3 things to be considered an official group that we support:

1. Community

From the beginning of Cross Point, we have placed a high priority on authentic community. Our favorite saying is: “Everyone’s welcome, no one’s perfect and anything can happen“. The way that this is accomplished best is not in rows on Sunday, but in circles in homes, coffee houses and office buildings during the week. A portion of every group meeting should be dedicated to honest dialogue about life.

2. Study

Groups that only do community might as well be a social club. Discipleship will only happen if there is time dedicated to studying God’s Word. We allow our groups to choose their own study, so this will look different from group-to-group. We have everything from Beth Moore groups to in depth Bible studies like The Gospel Project.

3. Mission

We ask each group to go beyond the 4 walls of the home to make an impact on the community around them. A group that is inward based can end up educated beyond their obedience. We believe that God called us to share the Gospel and not hoard it for ourselves. One of the ways that we help groups do this is through what we call Serving Saturdays. Once a quarter, our church turns out in mass to serve all of over the Nashville area. It’s an incredible picture of the Church being the hands and feet of Jesus.