Small Groups in the New Testament
Our Vision at Galilee

    "Community" is a theme that runs throughout scripture.  God has always been calling out a people for Himself, beginning with Israel and continuing with the church.  Even when the Jews were dispersed among enemy nations during times of captivity, they organized themselves into groups and ultimately formed synagogues (Jewish communities of worship and teaching) where they could serve one another and carry out their beliefs.  It was natural, therefore, for Jesus to develop a community of followers and for Paul, Peter and other church planters to start "new communities" wherever they went as they proclaimed the gospel.  These new communities began as small groups just as Jesus modeled with the 12 disciples (Mark 3:14; Luke 6:12-19).

    Small groups were an integral part of the early church structure.  They were small enough to allow individual members to minister to one another, use their spiritual gifts, and be discipled in the teachings of Christ.  In addition, they were vibrant and life-giving communities where evangelism could take place as unchurched people watched a loving and compassionate community in action.  Small groups not only built up the church, but were vehicles for reaching a lost world for Christ.

    Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

-Acts 2: 46-47

    And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

-Hebrews 10:24-25