n e w c h u r c h l i f e : m ay / j u n e 2 0 1 4
One reason to
structure our church
around small groups
is that they provide
a context for loving
relationships.
The Early Christian Church
After the Lord’s resurrection, the new
church He established through His
disciples had two contexts for their
gatherings: individual houses, and larger
public meetings.
So continuing daily with one accord in the
temple, and breaking bread from house to
house, they ate their food with gladness and
simplicity of heart. (Acts 2:46)
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and
preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:42)
I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you
publicly and from house to house. (Acts 20:20) (Emphasis added)
This double approach (publicly and house-to-house) is used in many
congregations today that have weekend gatherings of the whole congregation,
along with small group meetings in people’s homes. Virtually every congregation
has some small groups, such as a board, a choir, or Sunday school classes, but
some congregations go further in encouraging every member to be a part of a
small group, and encouraging every small group to provide balanced care for
its members.
The Church is Love
One reason to structure our church around small groups is that they provide
a context for loving relationships. In the New Church we know that the whole
church focuses on love for the Lord and love for the neighbor. In small groups
we have an opportunity to get to know people on a deeper level, to understand
their struggles, to help them in a way that is truly beneficial, and to love them
for their best qualities. This is hard to do if our only interaction with others
in the Church is a brief comment about the weather after the Sunday service.
Love for the Lord and caring for the neighbor make the church. (Arcana Coelestia
4723, Heavenly Doctrine 60)
Intellectual things, or those which are of faith, do not make up the church, but the
voluntary things which are of love. (Arcana Coelestia 709)
An internal church is one for which charity is the chief thing and is the source of its
thought and activity. (Arcana Coelestia 1228, 8152)
Charity is like the warmth in springtime or summer that causes grass, plants,
and trees to grow. Without charity, or spiritual warmth, nothing grows. (Arcana
Coelestia 1016)
The understanding cannot be enlightened unless it is be Y]