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Podcast
Christians Gatherin In Small Groups
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Transcript
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to say a few things about Christians gathering
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together in small groups.
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What does the Bible say about the size of the groups we gather together?
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I'll make the case that there's something valuable about the church gathering in small
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groups.
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Actually, the New Testament church, the believers saved through the ministry of the apostles,
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never met in large groups.
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The assembly of church was always in a small group.
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The only recorded church assemblies were in homes, and homes were small.
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All churches were house churches, and here's a few examples.
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Acts 2.46, this is very early on in Jerusalem, breaking bread from house to house, they were
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taking their meals together with gladness.
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Chapter 5.42 of Acts, from house to house, we're talking about the apostles, kept right
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on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
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Acts 20.20, Paul reminds the Ephesian elders, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything
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that was profitable in teaching publicly and from house to house.
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In Romans 16.3-5, Paul wrote, Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
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who for my sake wrist their own necks, to whom not only do I give my thanks, but all
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the churches of the Gentiles greet the church in their house.
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So apparently Priscilla and Aquila had a church that met in their house in Rome.
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In 1 Corinthians 16.19, Paul wrote this, Aquila and Priscilla greet you with the church that's
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in their house.
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So apparently Priscilla and Aquila had a church that met in their house in Rome, and when
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the Jews were forced out of Rome, they moved to Corinth, where they may have gathered another
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church together in their home, at least the church in Corinth knew who they were.
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Then they apparently moved to Ephesus, and again opened their home for a gathering of
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believers, because Paul sends to Corinth greetings from the church that met in the home of Priscilla.
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Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus.
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In Colossians 4.15, Paul says, Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and also Nymphaea and
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the church that meets in her house.
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Philippians 1 and 2, Paul wrote to Philemon, our brother and fellow worker, also to Apphia,
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our sister, and to Agrippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.
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So it's clear, three things are clear.
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One, the New Testament church never gathered in a large auditorium type of meeting.
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Number two, they had their assemblies in homes.
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And number three, homes were always small.
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So we can conclude that the gathering of the church of the New Testament, the gatherings
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were always small.
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And everybody who reads the New Testament understands that.
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So people who support big churches have offered the following arguments.
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I'm going to give you five arguments offered in support of large churches with my answer
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to each.
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All right.
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So number one, yeah, but what about Jesus fed the 5,000 and 4,000 and Peter spoke to
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over 3,000?
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My answer, those were unscheduled gatherings of crowds that spontaneously came together.
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They were not gatherings of the church.
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People gathered around Jesus for healing and teaching.
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Peter spoke to the crowd that experienced the miracles at the day of Pentecost, and
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again to those who gathered around the healing of the lame man at the temple.
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But there was no example or command for believers to gather together in a meeting of the church
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in a large group.
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Practically speaking, occasional large group meetings might be advantageous for evangelism
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or distributing goods to the poor or needy, but huge crowds gathered around Jesus because
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he healed everybody who came to him.
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Paul spoke to large groups of unbelievers in Athens, but no regular assembly of the
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church was scheduled, planned, or organized as a large meeting.
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Second, a second common argument given for a megachurch people is sort of like, yeah,
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but what about persecution?
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Maybe they couldn't build a large church due to persecution.
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Well, my answer is the apostles never held back from doing what was right, what the right
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thing to do was or the best thing to do because of persecution.
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The apostles never suggested bigger was better for a church gathering or that it would be
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better to have a large group.
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For three, objection, yeah, but an example is not a command.
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The apostles did not command small groups.
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Since the apostles did not specify a form of a church, we're free to adapt whatever
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style works best.
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My answer is the idea that what's good is what works is pragmatism is not a good test
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for truth.
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Also, it's true that examples are not commands, but they're given for a reason.
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The form forms the impact, or as Marshall McLuhan used to say, the medium is the message.
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If you change the way the message is presented, you also change the message.
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If I go to hear a symphony orchestra, I do not expect to learn to play the violin.
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I go as a spectator to be entertained with no thought of involvement, and the bigger
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the audience, the better.
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It's best if all the seats in the auditorium are filled, but entertainment is not what
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the apostles had in mind.
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Small groups encourage participation, thinking, and reasoning.
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Another objection, a fourth one, yeah, but small groups are easily taken over by false
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teaching.
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My answer, really?
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And large groups aren't?
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Nearly every significant false teaching in the church is linked to some megachurch pastor.
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The preaching in small groups is usually the most biblical, and it encourages participation,
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which is the best check on false teaching.
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A fifth objection, yeah, but large churches often encourage breaking up into small groups
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during the week, midweek small groups.
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My answer is small groups themselves are not what the apostles formed.
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Let's think about it a bit.
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Hebrews 10.25 includes the command, not forsaking our own assembly together.
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The words I'd like you to notice are our own, or the King James says, of ourselves.
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Believers who only gather in mixed groups are not gathering themselves together.
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As believers, we're to gather ourselves together.
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We're not to build or rent an auditorium, school, restaurant, mall, or some major facility
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and invite in everyone who'll come.
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That's okay if you're having an evangelistic rally for a few days, but it's not an assembly
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of the church.
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The church is when believers who know each other from their various networks of fellowship
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find a way to gather themselves together in a group small enough to fit into a house.
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When we call for gatherings of auditorium-sized places and encourage seekers to come, then
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we have a mixed group, not a gathering of the church.
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Of course, we can't teach them much because they won't understand much.
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When that large group is divided up into small groups, we do not have the believers gathering
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themselves together.
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We have a mixture of small groups, which is usually allowing shallow and superficial characteristics
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by sharing ignorance.
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So the assembly of the church is not just to be small, it's to be a gathering of believers,
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but subdividing large groups into small groups for the sake of having small groups.
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In conclusion, we can say that with confidence that the gatherings of the first century were
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in groups small enough to meet in someone's home.
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Whatever the immediate reason for it, the apostles never suggested something different
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would be better.
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The small group generated a discussion rather than a sermon, which led to a growth and ministry
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not available in a large group setting.
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Well thanks for listening.
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My paper on small groups is available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
