Home Groups

One of the most helpful topics in the International School of Ministry video teaching series, which Timothy has helped to facilitate in Lodja, was the teaching on home fellowship groups. Here in the Congo where a large majority of the population readily identify themselves as Christian, but only a small minority have a vibrant relationship with Jesus, the traditional Sunday church meeting can all too often be little more than religious pattern of rote prayers and procedures, with most attendees mere passive observers. The pastor of our church, after being introduced to the small group model, decided to try something different. He invited established couples and emerging leaders in his congregation to meet with him and his family once a week in the evening, in order to share their life in the Lord together with each other, and to learn to encourage others to do the same. In contrast to the podium and pew setup of Sunday morning, the 6-12 participants of the home group gather in a personal circle of chairs and benches in the yard beside his home. No special music, no interminable youth choir numbers, no offering processions, long sermons, or equally long prayers summarizing the sermons. Rather, participants are invited to share what God may have shown them during the week, either in the scripture or through the circumstances of daily life, to share answers to prayer or items of thanksgiving, to praise God together with a few simple songs, to review the text and teaching of the sermon for that week and share personal insights or questions related to it, and to request and receive prayer for personal needs. Every contribution, whether a simple reiteration of the sermon text or a question revealing insight or deep longing, is welcomed and affirmed. This ‘pilot’ group, increasingly attended by spiritually hungry young men, has steadily developed into an effective fellowship group. After about a year together, four new groups were established, each led by two of the young men from the pilot group. There was animated discussion about the role of the pastor and missionary couples in these new groups. A generation older than most of the leaders, we have been dubbed the ‘persons who wear glasses,’ and rotate between the groups, with the title ‘inspectors’ having been rejected (thank the Lord) for the title ‘encouragers.’ It has been remarkably refreshing to discover and cultivate brothers and sisters in the Lord, to be the church in a new and authentic way, and to affirm the life and work of the Spirit in each other.