Sunday Morning Small Groups

One of the struggles I have is getting our congregation to focus on God for a time of worship. The problem is that the barriers to this are good things. We have traditionally given time to people to share their prayer requests and praises. We have avoided the "too much information" problems usually associated with this, though it was beginning to become a problem recently. The thing is, this time can be emotional, pull on the heart strings, pull us together kind of moments, so no one wants to give them up.

But here is the problem, this stuff is important but it should be done in a small group and not during the Sunday Worship Service. We have around 90 people show up for worship so we know it is already way beyond a small group. Nevertheless, there are always several people willing to share their prayer requests. However, the majority sit quietly, probably shocked at how personal some people are willing to be.

There is also a logical limit to how much time can be spent on listening to praises and prayer requests so growth is limited. No matter what size we become as a church it will only be practical to give the same amount of time to it. That means we will probably have the same people involved while an even greater number will be spectators. It will also be a greater number who are less interested because they won't be as close to those people sharing and they will most likely be bored and find there way somewhere else.

This is a major problem in small churches. Because of the intimacy they don't feel a need to join a small group because they get their needs taken care of in the worship service. That's why it is hard to start small groups in small churches. But that's the very thing that keeps those churches from growing. (My cynical side would suggest that some people fight for things precisely to keep things small.)

I suppose this is a good advertisement for a house church but there is a real danger there too. No matter what size church you have you aren't exempted from the Great Commission. That means a house church should be multiplying itself like crazy and I think a lot of people struggle with that kind of instability. Either way people are going to feel uncomfortable.