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Spiritual growth can come in small packages
Meg Weston (left) and Joy Terry take part in a walking Bible study as part of a small group ministry program at Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington. Photo by Tiffany Vail March, 2002
By Tiffany Vail
It was a quiet Saturday morning during the first week of Lent, and 10 people sat around a table in the library of the Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington, talking about what was meant by words like “sin” and “scribe” in a verse from Matthew.
An hour later, they paired off to take a brisk walk around downtown Lexington, during which they talked about how to recognize miracles in their own lives.
None were clergy members or divinity school students or Biblical scholars. They were ordinary adults from different walks of life who were interested in gathering together to try and understand the Bible a little better. And their’s was just one of 12 small groups at the church dedicated to deepening the faith of its members that began meeting at the start of Lent.
“We are aware of the need to deepen spirituality, and deepen friendships in the church,” said Gay Godfrey, associate pastor of the nearly 1,000-member church. “This is a way to do both.”
This group was developed for people who enjoy walking and who wanted to combine it with Bible study. Other groups are as diverse as a quilting group for babies with AIDS, a professional women’s group, a Christian poetry study group and a photography group.
All the group gatherings include time to share in prayer and Bible study, as well as time to take part in shared interests. It is a model that has proved effective in churches across the country, according to Susan Dickerman, Associate Conference Minister for Leadership Development.
Want to learn more? The Massachusetts Conference is co-sponsoring:
Growing the Fruit of the Spirit: Forming Adult Faith
Andover Newton Theological School Spring Convocation
May 21 at Andover Newton & May 22 at First Baptist Church of Worcester
8:30 AM to 3:00• Keynote addresses by Brita Gill-Austern, Andover Newton professor, on May 21, and by Martin Copenhaver, Wellesley Congregational Church Senior Pastor, on May 22.
• Workshops will look at ways to help adults with spiritual formation, including small group ministry.
• For more information, contact Chris Braudaway-Bauman at 617-964-1100, ext. 280, or at cbbauman@ants.edu.
“If you start with commonalities to begin with, you can concentrate better on building spirituality,” Dickerman said. Those commonalities can be interests, such as walking or photography, or can be relational, such as professional women or fathers of toddlers.
“When people of like interests come together with the added dimension of Bible study, then the positive outcome is that they will go deeper in their faith,” she said.
Hancock UCC got started with small groups by inviting 100 people who church leaders thought might be good small group leaders to come to a training session led by Dickerman. Approximately 20 took part, with most agreeing to try leading small groups during Lent.
The hope is that once these groups reach the end of their six weeks, participants will have had such a good experience that they will start other small groups. Groups will also be encouraged to adopt a mission emphasis, adapting their interests to serve the community.
Dickerman said small groups can also be an effective form of evangelism by providing people a way to enter into the church that may be more personal then just attending worship.
At Hancock UCC, formation of these interest-based small groups will go hand-in-hand with a refocusing of the church committees, placing less emphasis on administrative tasks and more emphasis on ministry and spiritual growth.
“We are reminding our committees that they are small groups as well,” said senior pastor Peter Meek. “We want to give people much more opportunity to invest themselves in matters of faith, rather then tasks and administration. We want to spend less energy doing church and more energy being church.”
Other churches are trying similar changes.
Centre Congregational Church in Lynnfield is working to move away from a committee structure toward a team structure.
Senior Pastor Raymond Patch took the first step during the first week of Lent, bringing the Board of Deacons and Music Committee together for their first meeting as a worship team.
“The purpose of this team will be to build the service together,” he said. “They will work at interpreting the Scripture from the Lectionary, and will select the hymns and write the prayers that keep with that theme.”
Eventually, he hopes people will join the worship team because they want to, not because the nominating committee has asked them to.
“What we’re doing is moving toward a sense of interest rather then duty,” he said.
Similar teams will also be formed, such as a financial development team that will replace traditional finance and stewardship committees.
A focus on ministry and spiritual development will be key for all of the teams.
“We will do Biblical work with these groups before they pick up hammers and paintbrushes,” Patch said.