Lord and caring for the neighbor are
the principal and essential things of the
church. (Arcana Coelestia 7233)
Small groups provide a context for
getting to know people on a deeper level,
and for serving them in a more personal
way, appropriate to their specific needs.
Every Larger Group Is Composed
of Smaller Groups
One reason for using small groups is that
this is the structure of creation and human
society, both in the spiritual world and the
natural world. Every group is made up of
smaller groups.
Small groups provide
a context for getting
to know people on
a deeper level, and
for serving them
in a more personal
way, appropriate to
their specific needs.
In most ancient times... people lived distinguished into nations, families, and
houses, in order that the church on earth might represent the Lord’s Kingdom,
where all are distinguished into communities; and these communities into greater
ones; and these again into still greater ones. (Arcana Coelestia1259)
The universal heaven is one community, which is ruled by the Lord as one person;
the general communities there are as many as are the members, the viscera, and the
organs in a person; but the specific communities are as many as are the little viscera
contained within each viscus, member and organ; and the particular communities
are as many as in these little viscera there are lesser parts constituting a greater one.
(Arcana Coelestia 7836)
Absolutely everything in the whole of nature has a structure that consists of
common bundles of fascicles of fibers. Every tree, shrub, bush, and vegetable – in
fact, every type of grass and herb – has this characteristic in whole and in part. The
overall cause of this is that divine truths are shaped this way. (True Christianity 351.
See also Divine Love and Wisdom 190, 207)
Heaven as a whole is like a single individual, having all the organs and members
that every human body has. Each community within heaven is also in the human
form, being composed of smaller communities, each with its own function. This
aspect of the human form is also reflected in families. Ancient Israel was organized
by families, with many houses in a family, many families in a clan and many clans in
a tribe. This was a reflection of the way heaven is organized. (Arcana Coelestia 1259)
In heaven people are grouped into similar houses, families, clans and
tribes, with the difference that the groupings are based not on natural blood
relationships, but on spiritual values and functions. (Heaven and Hell 46, True
Christianity 15, Arcana Coelestia 685, 3815, 4121) An example of small groups
in the next life is an assembly that divided up into six circles, face to face, to
discuss ideas they had had about the happiness in heaven. (Married Love 2,
259