After a few short-lived attempts to begin small groups in the early 1990's, our church board began to seek the Lord's direction about what we should be doing as a congregation.

Our 'motto' was: Ask; Listen; Obey. The idea of having a 'Lay Witness Weekend' had been brought to our attention and after many months, we discerned that we should arrange for one, not knowing that this would prepare the way for small group ministry in our congregation.

Basically, our congregation 'set the table' and the Lay Witness volunteers 'brought the food'. We arranged for special evening services with discussion groups following, a ladies' luncheon, a men's breakfast, a youth dinner and several 'coffee groups' in homes during the weekend (all according to the Lay Witness Weekend guidelines). Current active members as well as those with some connection to the congregation were invited.

I had hoped it would be a great weekend for parents with younger families. However, most of the participants were 'more mature' and the bulk of the long-time members of the church took part in the weekend. It was a tremendous blessing! Sixteen people from across Canada came at their own expense, testified to their faith and God's work in their lives and led discussions in the various aforementioned settings. The experience of drawing nearer to the Lord and to one another in these temporary 'small groups' was so wonderful that we decided to continue having 'coffee groups' on a monthly basis, at least, in various homes.

In the meantime, it was felt we should try to establish some sort of 'home groups' or 'small groups' to enhance discipleship and fellowship and to provide a setting where newer Christians or seekers could be welcomed. I knew we needed 'small groups' but I didn't have a clue what to do!

God is merciful and wonderful, and had no fewer than two pastor-friends recommend, out of the blue, an upcoming seminar in a nearby city. And that turned out to be all about establishing and maintaining a small group ministry in a church! I was given all that I needed in order to provide the needed leadership! The Lord provides!

An extremely helpful resource was The Big Book on Small Groups by Jeffrey Arnold (Inter-Varsity Press). We used this book to form our first small group-a twice-monthly gathering of 11 people who agreed to be trained as small group leaders over the period of a year. The majority of us had never been in a 'small group. The curriculum in the book taught us the 'how-to' and 'ins and outs' of leading small groups. We rotated leadership of the meetings as part of our education and at the end of the training period, we started five small groups, which met two times monthly.

Each new small group began with a six-week study (also by Jeffrey Arnold) called The Small Group Starter Kit. This helped us to begin each group with the same basic understandings and expectations. Each group has used study materials relevant to the people in the respective groups.

An idea promoted in our training program (and other sources since then) was that of continually aiming to have existing groups 'give birth' to new groups. This happened with one group but others resisted the idea of 'splitting' and this we decided is okay. All of the groups have changed, with some folks moving away and others coming in to small groups. We do not have a lot of new people coming in to the congregation, and some in our church have not found small groups to be particularly helpful to them. So, the growing, splitting, and 'giving birth' to new groups hasn't been a prominent feature to date. However, it is clear that if numerical growth is to take place, small groups must be open to changing, 'giving birth' to new groups and developing leaders.

A year and a half ago, we sent 10 people from our church to a Willow Creek Prevailing Church conference. As a result, we set about improving the groups we have and encouraging their growth. We are attempting to make a shift from being a congregation 'with' small groups to being a congregation 'of' small groups. We are encouraging groups that are growing, to identify apprentice leaders and release them, in time, to form new small groups. Our leaders gather regularly for training and oversight of our groups and we have had some social gatherings for all small group participants, as well as events to promote small groups to the congregation.

Most of our current leaders have learned through their experience of being in a small group.

Last fall, our regular small groups were not meeting for a few months, while most of our congregation participated in '40 Days of Purpose', a program from Saddleback Church in California, led by Pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling A Purpose Driven Life. Besides topical Sunday sermons, daily devotional readings and theme memory verses, the program involved the formation of temporary small groups that met weekly to study God's five main purposes for our lives. For the most part, this 'mingling' of small group participants with new temporary leaders, and those currently involved or not involved in small groups, was a breath of fresh air for all of us.

This past winter and spring, we re-formed small groups (most in a similar configuration as prior to '40 days' but with a couple of new groups). We have been using a DVD-based curriculum from Saddleback called 'Doing Life Together'. We have found this material quite interesting and challenging. It lends itself well to allowing people in groups to take turns leading: there is a different speaker each week on DVD, and the DVD has helpful training and preparation talks for those leading groups. Most groups plan to continue with this series this fall.

In order to minister to those who do not benefit from the small group format, but who wish to have a 'Bible Study', we plan to offer one four-to-six week session in the fall, and one during Lent '06, which will examine the upcoming Sunday's scripture passages.

Small groups have helped many to grow in grace and knowledge, and in the daily living out of our faith in Jesus Christ. The support of small group members has helped many through times of trial and difficulty. They have also given opportunity for peoples' gifts to develop (e.g., leadership, hospitality, administration, guitar-playing, song-leading).

Our small groups have been a tremendous source of blessing, spiritual growth, mutual support and deep fellowship for many people. We are so thankful that they are part of the life of our congregation. They have provided a venue for us to love and serve one another as fellow servants of Jesus Christ.