Subscribe to the NetworkChanging the Name of Small Groups
Some conversations this week combined with our small group leader training has me thinking about changing the name of our small groups. Just a far-fetched idea and rambling at this point, but thought I would share it here and see if there would be some action in the comments.
The primary purpose of our small groups is fellowship. We emphasize “life-on-life” conversations, accountability and community. Secondarily we strive for discipleship, asking small group leaders to teach Bible topics and lessons in a relevant and personal way to our students. We’ve called these groups in the past “Area Bible Studies (ABS)” and currently HSM Small Groups. But I’m wondering if the name combined with the emphasis on a curriculum, tips the scale toward discipleship and undermines the value of sharing life authentically together? I’m wondering if by default students expect a Bible class or theology lesson, instead of bibical community centered around God’s Word?
In a perfect world and our current discipleship process, I would say that groups should be 70-80% fellowship, and 20-30% fellowship. I wonder if it could be done without specfic materials at all, but share the outpouring of the leader’s and students’ walk with God. I wonder if there is a more accurate expression for our groups that convey the purpose more effectively.
Maybe we should call them … Life Groups.
If you have small groups, what purpose do they serve and what do you call them? I’d love to know and discuss.
JG
We recently went through this process… at a local church level but also for the youth discipleship resource that we have released from our denominational head office. We’d tried the term ‘Small Groups’, but we moved away from it because we wanted people to understand that it was healthy for a group to grow and multiply. Secondly we tried the term ‘Cell Groups’, but we encountered a lot of confusion between the intended meaning (cell = the biological thing that multiplies to create life) and the unintended meaning (cell = the place where you lock up criminals. Which was ironically still appropriate for some of our groups. Ha!).
And yep, after lots of discussion and exploration, we finally settled on the term… Life Groups.
And the reason we settled on that name was exactly the reasons you’ve listed – we want to emphasise values like connectedness, accountability, authenticity and community. And we want to communicate that discipleship isn’t about head knowledge or program attendance but that discipleship flows out of relationship.