Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders

For the past year, the Discipleship Team at Christianity Today International has been strenuously planning a re-design and re-launch of our small-group resources. One of the things I've been most surprised by is the amount of time and energy that must go into parsing out all of the minute details of phraseology.

Is it okay to talk about "difficult people"? Does the word “assimilation” sound too corporate (or bring up images of the Borg from Star Trek)? What should we call the study materials we produce—curriculum, Bible studies, Bible discussions, or courses?

But the phraseological debate that looms above all others is this: How should we refer to that singular experience of 4–10 people coming together to study God's Word, fellowship, worship, and eat Betty Crocker brownies? Is it a small-group meeting? A gathering? A small-group session? A Bible study?

I've always used the word meeting to describe such occasions. But that's an odd term to use for something that primarily happens in living rooms. Having worked in an office environment for several years now, I don't really think of meetings as having great potential for deep communication and life-change—two things I definitely want to see in my small group.

It was while ruminating on these subjects that I encountered the following audio clip from Harvey Carey, which originated at the Small Group and Evangelism Conference of the Christian Reformed Church. Harvey is the founder and senior pastor of the Citadel of Faith Covenant Church in Detroit, Michigan, and he has some very interesting things to say about meetings and community and making a real difference for the Kingdom of God.

Click here to hear an expanded version of this clip.