Small groups and the Gospel

Small groups and the Gospel

Fr Chris Thomas from the Emmaus Family of Prayer, reflects on the importance of being part of a small group if we want to live the Gospel to its fullness.

I am sitting writing this article in the Providence Convent House of Prayer in Palmers Green where a few people have gathered to reflect on the call of John’s Gospel to experience life and life in its fullness. As we have spent time together, mostly in silence and prayer, there have been bonds formed amongst that small group of people which can only be fashioned amongst small groups. There is a deep sense of unity and belonging. Certainly in me, I have a sense that I could share the emotions and feelings that I have in response to what we’re doing with any of my new friends.

As I have been thinking about that I’ve realised yet again that it really is only in small groups that we find real life. It’s only in intimacy and deep sharing that we get a sense of who we are and are able to open up to the God who is always present. It’s primarily in relationship that we meet the risen Christ who is within us and amongst us. It seems to me that one of the gifts that Charismatic Renewal brought to the Church again was that realisation. We began to experience life in our prayer groups and communities that we had never experienced in our larger Church gatherings. We were able to enter into deep committed relationships with others. We learnt how to look out for one another and respond to one another’s needs. We found ourselves accepted (warts ‘n’ all). We learnt how to love, accept, forgive one another and in it all we experienced powerfully the presence of God within us and amongst us.

“Early Church and small groups”

I have a sense that Church is meant to be like that. The early Church certainly was. The churches that Paul wrote to for example, were very small groups of people, as small, some of the scholars say, as thirty or forty. The communities of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were very small. People were known and were accountable to one another. They lived out daily a shared life that only the presence of God could sustain and it was those small groups of people who witnessed to the world around them of the presence of God whom they knew and experienced.

After thinking about the presence of God in small groups I was then drawn to Mark’s Gospel and in particular to the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Mark gives an incredible amount of detail about what happened. This is strange when most of the time he gives little detail. Maybe he wants to tell us something really important? Jesus orders the disciples to get the people together in small groups and they sat down on the ground in numbers of 100’s and fifty’s. He took five loaves and two fish. He said the blessing broke the loaves and handed it to them. Where have we heard that before? Mark tells us there were twelve baskets over. The number twelve signifies total fulfilment. This is a teaching about Church. It’s as though Mark is saying it’s only in small groups that we will experience what Church is meant to be. The sharing of life, the experience of the risen Christ feeding his people. Once our communities become anonymous and impersonal and there is no longer any need to enter into deep committed relationships where you share life you’re not going to grow.

“Christianity has become attendance at meetings”

Sadly as the generations have gone by Christianity has, for many, become attendance at meetings instead of membership in the body of Christ where we learn how to share our lives with one another and experience the presence of God in one another and in our midst. The Church has become anonymous and in many senses lacks the fire that commitment to others brings.

It strikes me that one of the reasons why ALPHA and CaFE have been so successful across the world is because they break people down into small groups. People share their lives with one another and even if it isn’t named as such they have an experience of the risen Jesus present in the midst. They have a sense of what Church can be.

If you are not part of a small group then find yourself one. If you can’t find one then form one. Come together and pray the prayer of the Church for example. Come together and reflect on the Sunday readings. Come together and share some food. Be accountable to one another. Share your life somewhere and experience what it means to be Church.

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Fr Chris Thomas