Greetings Jeff,

There's nothing novel about the experience of Care Groups or Small 
Groups when they are utilized for the purpose of edifying the body. 
Since Pentecost the saints have done such throughout the centuries. I'm 
sure we agree that the scriptures teach that those in leadership are 
responsible for the equipping of the saints. Small groups is a forum for 
those equipped by the leadership to fulfill their leadership's 
expectations. Oversight is maintained, the saints are edified, and to be 
quite frank, the pastors are themselves edified. There's a certain 
satisfaction for the leaders when they see that their folk are much more 
than just hearers of the Word. Doers of the Word are what makes the 
local body of believers unique.

Care Groups that are not "Word" and "Spirit" centered are simply socials 
that puff cold air.

There are those who will wait on tables, fetch the pastor's mail, carry 
the elements to the communicants, and take up the offering. They can do 
that muzzled. The saints need to open up. To share their burdens, joys 
and struggles with sin and life so we can bring them an appropriate 
word, sing with them an encouraging hymn, if need be weep with them.

Grace bro!
   Moe


Jeff Scanlan wrote:
> 
> Was there ever a time when ministers in our type of churches said, 'Hey
> guys I am going to do every thing - all the teaching, all the preaching,
> all the visitation. I am going to start every thing the same and end
> every thing the same in his church!'
> 
> I suspect that there was always work for laymen to do and I suspect that
> there would have been few ministers who would have wanted to discourage
> such work.
> 
> I worry when someone says they have discovered something new that we did
> not know about before or ignored. C.S.Lewis says that one mistake that
> humans always make is that they always put down their immediate
> predecessors.
> 
> I worry also that people begin to put their faith in techniques of
> 'ministry' rather than in the ministry of the word, though I fairly sure
> that no one here would be guilty of that.
> 
> Did Spurgeon encourage small groups like we discussing here? I would not
> have a clue but I know that he was a successful preacher and minister.
> 
> Yes I have been in small groups and yes I believe they can be effective.
> In a society where there is so much break down and disintegration they
> may well be the way to go and a place where gifted teachers of the word
> can make a real difference. 
> 
> But let us remember that it is the ministry of the word that provides us
> with the dynamic and not the technique.
> 
> God bless,
> Jeff