THE ROOTS OF SMALL GROUPS

The early church was a diverse group of people who were committed to following Jesus through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. They followed the model that Jesus initiated and lived by sharing in deep, authentic Christian community.

Over the centuries the church became institutionalized and conformed to a one-hour-a-week, once-a-week-worship format. The clergy and a physical building became the centerpiece of the life of the church, a model that was replicated in the Americas. The early church and its transforming approach to discipleship, community, witness and service did not align with the practices of most mainline denominations.
 
Jump forward several hundred years. Due to the spiritual nurturing in the Wesley home some 300 years ago, John Wesley experienced the foundational value of being in spiritual practice with others in his family. After leaving home as young adults, John and his brother Charles duplicated the small group environment they experienced at home by forming the "Holy Club" at Oxford.

John went on to be ordained in the Anglican Church of England from which he eventually was called to address the needs of the uneducated and poor of English society. Many common folks were converted through his preaching and discipling method, lived out through personal and community spiritual disciplines within small groups. The "methodical" spiritual formation in these groups was the basis for the Methodist movement that transformed English history during that era.