I thought I had found a group with a common affinity: Jesus.

Anyway, I would have loved to go camping with that group, but I think they wanted a cooler crowd.

I will try again, though. Maybe I’ll get it right eventually. =)

I think we need to lower expectations of small groups:

Group around a common affinity
Meet together
Eat together
Pray together
Worship together
Laugh together
Cry together
Make space for each other in our lives

That list is a good expectation. I wouldn’t expect enormous teaching and book or Bible learning to come out of a small group, though. Yet that is how we often position them. This is why so few gain traction. They need to be microcosms of the larger church. Grouping them around common affinity (like parenting, bicycling, or birdwatching) may be the best and most organic way for them to develop and hold people. Never finding a unity of purpose is the reason so many groups fail.

Our large church is built on the small group format. I long to be in a small group, but the one time I committed to joining one, after two months I was the only one who still wanted to meet.

One of the other women wanted to find another group. “I just want to go camping,” she said. Ugh! If people were honest, I think most would admit feeling the same way she did. They want a social group of “good” people, but let’s not get too religious. So much for Jesus in the small group.

I know I should keep trying until I find a good group, but I’m wary.