“Simple Small Groups”
I just finished reading Bill Search’s “Simple Small Groups.” After picking this book up at Saddleback’s Small Groups Conference last month, I was honestly a bit disappointed. Where were the diagrams? What about the theological background? This book is almost, well, too simple. In fact, Search admits to that shortly into the book. He says, “. . .simple small groups isn’t really a model. It’s merely a way of making whatever model you like best work better.”
Interestingly, the same day that I picked up this book, Bel Air’s Executive Director, Glenn Reph, posted on the BAPC blog about a book that he has recently read, entitled “Deliberate Simplicity.” (Click here to read his blog).
It seems that in the midst of getting ready for the celebration of Easter, in these six weeks of Lent that are traditionally considered a time to slow down, God has been prompting His people to do just that. To focus not on the complexities of our lives as Angelenos or Christians, but to find a way to relax, take a deep breath, and trust Him with our schedules.
As many of you know, I recently had a baby. He’s almost six months old now, and since Jonathan entered my life, I have found myself saying “no” to more and more things that before I had excitedly committed to. But this new phase of life has made me weigh my commitments with more clarity. I went through a similar phase after getting married, after graduating from college, and even after finding new ways to serve. Our lives are busy–no matter where that busyness stems from. The influx of “next big thing” in our lives often seems predicated on giving up something else.
So I’m beginning to think of my Small Group time not as another thing. I’m beginning to think of it as space to engage in that next thing with some friends who are of a similar mind when it comes to following God. So when I hear that Big Sunday is around the corner, I think: “Can I do this with my Small Group?” Or when I hear that the Deacons ministry is looking for people to help clean up Mulholland, I wonder if this might be a great way to spend a few hours with my Small Group on a Saturday morning.
And as we move forward understanding our Biblical purpose, our giftedness, and God’s leading, I think through how I can maximize the time and resources I have, while feeling as much freedom to say “yes” to these opportunities as I do to say “no.”
