Viewing Grouplife as ‘church’ – PART 2

When Paul wrote about ‘ecclesia’ (the church) meeting in homes all across the landscape, he was not thinking strategically about how these small groups were a strategy to grow the church or reach the lost.  Small groups were not a focus of the early church.  They were the church! There were no church buildings nor was the church recognized with any official status.  The church was a movement of small groups meeting in individual’s homes.  Somehow today, small groups are viewed as a program or just one of the ways to help the church assimilate people and disciple people.  In very few cases are small groups actually viewed as the church or as ‘ecclesia’.

I think it is fascinating to think that the small group was the paradigm or perspective of how the church was to function or how early Christians thought about church.  It’s also interesting to consider that the Scriptures do not outline for us just what a church gathering should look like or how church gatherings were to be structured.  You just don’t find this.

But what you do find is a lot of writing about how Christians are to relate to each other.  Love God, love one another, serve one another, encourage one another, care for one another……..and it can only be within the context of community that we do this.

Group life is ‘ecclesia’!