Building a Church of Small Groups: A Place Where Nobody Stands Alone - Softcover

Dr. Bill Donahue is the author of the bestselling Leading Life-Changing Small Groups, Building a Life-Changing Small Groups Ministy (with Russ Robinson), Coaching Life-Changing Leaders (with Greg Bowman), and the Equipping Life-Changing Small Groups DVD. SPANISH BIO: Bill Donahue es director del ministerio de grupos pequenos de Willow Creek Association. Previamente se desempeno como miembro del personal de Willow Creek Community Church colaborando en la planificacion e implementacion del ministerio mundial de grupos pequenos. Reside en West Dundee, Illinois, con su esposa Gail y sus dos hijos.

Building a Church of Small Groups M A K I N G T H E C A S E F O R C O M M U N I T Y awyers live for closing arguments. There is no exception: those who enjoy trying cases love launching into their closing argument. It's something I (Russ) looked forward to whenever I tried a case during my legal career, which lasted from 1982 through the mid-1990s. I still remember the thrill of making my closing statement in a personal injury case I tried almost fifteen years ago. We had been on trial for almost a week, had submitted all our witness testimony and evidence, and were ready to address the jury. I tweaked my previously prepared remarks during a break. My opponent went first, speaking on behalf of the plaintiff, a large corporation, that had sued my clients---a young couple whose alleged negligence had caused their company damage. Then it was my turn. The other side had made good arguments, but I knew the jury members' sympathies, the law, and the facts were all on my side. During that closing argument, all my work---during law school, earlier trials, and preparation for this case---came together. My client, and even the opposing lawyer, later commented that I had the jury eating out of my hand. There are few thrills like delivering a closing argument. Lawsuits sometimes last years, but all the investigation, witness interviews, and evidence development culminates in those few minutes of making a final plea before deliberations begin. The jury or judge has listened and weighed nuances while attorneys present evidence and witnesses for both sides. The judge has made her rulings; the parties have rested their cases; the stage is set. At that moment, every trial attorney knows the pressure is on; there's one last chance before the verdict is rendered. The outcome may well rise and fall on this moment of closing argument. We have framed the first part of this book as a closing argument. Your decision about community, about building a church of small groups, and about your own leadership may rest on your decisions about what you read in the next three chapters. We will make the case that, unless you begin with a crystal clear vision for community, you will not succeed in moving your church or yourself toward small groups. We pull together a wide variety of evidence, mostly from the Bible, into a closing argument that makes the case for community. As we begin our journey to building a church of small groups, we aim to persuade you that this vision is far more than a clever design for assimilation. We build our case for small groups from the mind and the heart of God himself, for God's own words about community provide the best possible evidence. Our motivation is simple. Both as laypeople and church staff members, we have found we can rely for a time on purely human drive to keep doing ministry. But experience, a hard taskmaster, has taught us that human ideas---program concepts, good management strategies, and the like---cannot sustain in us the energy we need to become a church of small groups. The more we've come to understand, however, that community is essential in God's identity, mind, and dream for us, the more we draw fresh energy for ministry. We hope that, by the time we finish our closing argument, you will discover a fresh understanding of community and endless energy for accomplishing it through ministry. Our case for becoming a church of small groups begins with theological evidence, the study of God (chapter 1). Next we focus on the sociological evidence, who we are as God's creatures and why we need small groups (chapter 2). Finally, we present organizational evidence for why small groups are the best way a church can achieve community (chapter 3). As the judge would now say, 'Mr. Robinson and Mr. Donahue, you may now address the jury. . .' Making the Case for Community 19 In the Beginning, God: The Theological Evidence Whatever community exists as a result of God's creation, it is only a reflection of an eternal reality that is intrinsic to the being of God. Because God is eternally one, when he created in his image, he created oneness. GILBERT BILEZIKIAN, COMMUNITY 101 'Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Yours is an awesome responsibility. Soon we will conclude our closing arguments, and you will render the verdict. Our society trusts fallible men and women with decisions like the ones you now face. Soberly and objectively, you must review the evidence. Our arguments are not evidence; you must judge our closing statement to determine how you view the evidence. The verdict will rest with you. But we believe there is clear and convincing proof for building a church of small groups. We'll begin by reviewing the theological evidence for community.' The arguments from theology---that is, the study of God and his person--- prove beyond doubt that God's nature is communal. Our theological analysis will show you why God's communal nature requires you to respond by building community---for yourself and for your church. The theological case depends on three basic ideas. First, God exists in community; he has forever existed as and will into eternity remain three persons in One. Second, God was incarnate in Christ Jesus, whose transformational relationships offer a model you cannot ignore. Third, Jesus dreams of oneness for all Christians, which is why you must move your church toward his vision. You've read Genesis 1:26: 'Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. . . .'' But have you noticed its remarkable expressions of plurality? These thirteen words include three references to God's unique nature. Note the references to 'us' and 'our,' which proclaim the core doctrine of the Trinity. At the same time, God's singularity is a core doctrine of the church universal. As Deuteronomy 6:4 says, 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.' In other words, God begins Scripture and the creation story with the theological idea of plurality within oneness. The creation account provides us an amazing window into the nature of the community of God, in whose image we are created. This plurality of beings comes to consensus to create humans in their image. They create in their collective image, which, in part, is a community-bearing image. It is not enough to say God is interested in community or even obsessed with community. God, rightly defined and understood, is community. The doctrine of the Trinity is complex. Orthodox Christians have for generations accepted that God is Three in One, but few of us think much about it. This seemingly enigmatic doctrine of the Trinity, however, has massive implications. As Gareth Icenogle explains: The small group is a generic form of human community that is transcultural, trans-generational and even transcendant. The call to human gathering in groups is a God-created (ontological) and God-directed (theological) ministry, birthed out of the very nature and purpose of God's being. God as Being exists in community. The natural and simple demonstration of God's communal image for humanity is the gathering of the small group.1 Did you catch that? 'God's communal image for humanity is the gathering of the small group.' The entire Bible proclaims that God (expressed singularly) exists from all time and for all time in community as the Trinity (plurality). This Trinitarian doctrine begins with the creation account, where all three persons of the Trinity are present. When God created the world, 'the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters' (Genesis 1:2). John describes Jesus as the agent of Creation: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. . . . Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.'