Changing our habits on Sunday School and Small groups

I’ve had a number of conversations over the last several weeks with folks who have been finding it difficult to change their habits and beliefs on Sunday School and small groups. For many years, the standard was to go to church and then Sunday School. It’s what every good christian did. Today is different. Today’s focus leans more on the importance of connection and community. Today’s models of connectivity lead to get the most out our small groups.

Many churches today have even gone as far as abandoning Sunday School altogether for the sake of small groups. While this is successful for those churches we are striving to keep both around at Third City. The key element is to learn in Sunday School, but to invest in Small Groups.

This is a hard line to cross for many. However, if you consider it for a moment, Christ has called us to four levels of discipleship: Following Him for our Salvation, in our lifestyles, fellowship with His body, and serving others. The key to this is the word fellowship. Someone said that fellowship is not just a name of a room. I think for years fellowship has been viewed as joining with friends after church for coffee.

I think that is only a very small meaning. The book of Acts shows us that fellowship was devoting oneself to the apostles teaching, breaking bread with one another daily, and prayer amongst other activities. It said they met in homes, which was out of necessity at the time, but the point was the many different communities who were connecting through out the city on a daily basis. Our view on connectivity is one that encourages people to go far beyond just learning in Sunday School but we encourage people to find real community with a small group. Real community contributes to real, well rounded spiritual and relational growth.