to new small groups. When John Chapman
spread the seeds of truth through the frontier
he went house to house like the Lord’s first
disciples, meeting in families’ homes and
forming small groups.
“Father” Fred Waelchli used the same
strategy when travelling through the United
States and Canada. Harold Cranch relied on
small groups when he was the only General
Church minister west of the Mississippi.
Some of the small groups he started became
congregations that could support a resident
minister, as in San Diego, Tucson, Los Angeles
and San Francisco. Others continued as small
groups for years or decades. Small groups
were also a key strategy used by Frank Rose
and others in camps such as Laurel, Maple
Leaf and Arizona Mountain Camp, and also
in building the Sunrise Chapel congregation.
This map shows current societies of the
The Academy Movement also started a s
General Conference of the New Church,
with the largest cluster around Manchester.
a small group of just six people: W. H. Benade,
J. P. Stuart, N. C. Burnham, Thomas Wilkes, J.
R. Hibbard and R. L. Tafel. It soon grew to more, but it was the small group
that gave birth to the vision and the zeal.
Small Groups in Large Congregations
The largest New Church congregations have always had reflections of smaller
groups within them, such as home doctrinal classes and study groups,
committees, choirs, chancel guilds, Sunday School classes, boards, school
teachers and students, Theta Alpha and Sons of the Academy, in addition to
the nuclear and extended families that sometimes grew from small groups into
quite large ones.
There are many uses that can be done by individuals working alone. A
treasurer may do the books when no one else is in the room. A volunteer
might mow the lawn or the pastor might fix a toilet with no one else around.
But most of the uses of the church can be done best when people work together
in small groups.
One advantage of a large congregation is that they can accomplish large
projects that are beyond the capabilities and resources of a small congregation.
For example, the Bryn Athyn Church has often hosted General Church
Assemblies because it has had enough resources to do so. There is no way
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