Small Groups

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.

At Christ Church, the purpose of small groups is to cultivate true wisdom through spiritual friendship. True wisdom is not mere Biblical information. It’s not theological opinions. It’s not even, primarily, “biblical knowledge” in the sense of facts collected. True wisdom is deeper than mere knowledge and it is always worked out relationally – with God, ourselves and others.

The Swiss reformer, John Calvin, opens his theological tome, Institutes of the Christian Religion, defining wisdom this ways: “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”

What this means practically for our groups?

Toward the knowledge of God: We order our time together around God’s word. This is not a Bible Study in the proper sense, but the clergy provide a selection of scripture to read and reflect upon with the intention of listening attentively to God’s self-disclosure. We don’t rush past hard passages or sand down God’s holiness, justice, or mercy to make Him more comfortable. We want our groups to simply behold God for who he is revealed to be in Scripture.

Toward the knowledge of self: We want to cultivate space for honest and vulnerable self-disclosure. A group that only discusses ideas at arm’s length will produce people who know a lot and have changed very little. We provide a set of questions that move a conversation from “what does this passage mean” to “what does this passage mean for me, this week, in the actual shape of my life.” That takes patience, and it takes your vulnerability to lead by example.