J. Alex Kirk, Small Group Leaders’ Handbook: Developing transformational communities, 소그룹은 변화를 가져오는 공동체여야 한다

The Vision for Transformational Communities

For one small group of twelve disciples, Jesus launched a movement that changed the world. He’s still changing the world through the legacy of that first small group, and he’s doing it in part though the ministry of small groups. We want to invite you to join in this movement. We want to prepare you to lead a small group.

Here’s what we mean when we say “small group”:

A small group is a transformational community that studies the Bible, prays and participates in God’s mission together for the purposes of God’s transforming work.

Notice that the vision for small groups has transformational community at its center. Not cheap community. Not virtual community… Not community when it’s convenient. Transformational community…

We were created for community; it is part of what it means to be created in the image of God-in-relationship: Father, Son, Holy Spirit…we were made for relationships. That is part of what it means to be made in God’s image.

Without a life of healthy, interdependent relationships, we are ill-equipped to answer the most important questions in life: Who am I? Who (or what) is God? What am I doing here? Apart from relationships that encourage and challenge us, we are barely alive.

Transformational community is thus the critical component of any thriving small group. Transformational communities have specific practices, disciplines that create the space for transformation to happen: these involve studying the Scriptures, praying and participating in God’s redemptive mission together.

 

J. Alex Kirk, Small Group Leaders’ Handbook: Developing transformational communities, IVP, 2009, p13-15