The Ministry of Small Groups

Medora Gordon

Assistant for Pastoral Care

 

137 years ago St. Paul’s was started by a small group. Can’t you just picture it? Ada Fairfax in her lovely summer lawn dress, likely with a bustle, invited a few of her lady friends over for a cup of tea in her beautifully appointed parlor and decided that San Rafael needed an Episcopal church. Shortly thereafter the first Bishop of California, the Right Rev. William I. Kip, wrote that the services were first held in a small schoolhouse, and there was one lady striving to start a Sunday School. Three years later church services were held in the courthouse and the numbers had grown to twenty. On May 6, 1868, St. Paul’s Church was admitted to the Episcopal Diocese of California.

That is how ministry begins. Someone has an idea and tells a couple of others, who then agree that this call interests them as well. Pretty soon we have a small group. Friends. Friends with a common call to serve God in some wonderful way.

Christianity started in much the same way. First we see John the Baptist, called by God to preach to anyone who would listen. John the Baptist, called to preach repentance and baptism and the coming reign of God. Pretty soon Jesus and his brothers decided that they too were interested and they began to meet with John. Then Jesus and James and his brother John went to their friends and convinced ten of them to join them – and what do you know – the ultimate small group. Jesus and the 12 Apostles, friends with a common call to spread the word of God’s justice and love.

This morning’s Gospel is Luke 10, commonly called the "Instructions for the road." These instructions are found in all four gospels. Luke thought they were so important that he lists them twice. These are the guidelines for small groups, first century style. The gospel stories tell us that Jesus and the Twelve had been going about the countryside teaching people about God. Healing some and driving demons out of others. Generally learning and ministering to themselves and to those who came to see what these itinerant preachers were all about.

I can imagine that it was pretty slow going with only twelve of them to do the work. The crowds were getting bigger. The teaching was getting more complicated. There were more people to heal. There was a lot to be done. The crop was good, but there were few to harvest it. So Jesus appointed Seventy-Two others – a truly big jump from twelve – and sent them out in pairs. Sort of early Christian advance teams, with instructions to go to every town that Jesus intended to visit and organize the people.

Before we talk about the rules of the road I want to come back to the modern day St. Paul’s. Over the years mainline religions have strayed away from the organizational structure of the early church. Kings and Popes and singularly powerful people have turned a belief system that was organized from the bottom up into free standing religions that are organized from the top down. There are many problems with top down management, not the least of which is that it no longer works. Like the early Christians, more and more of us are working in the fields of modern commerce. There are fewer and fewer of us with large amounts of time to do the work of the church. There are an ever-growing number of us who do not follow any religion at all. Or we find that the church we remember from years past doesn’t meet our needs now. As a result, it grows more difficult to spread the word. It is a vicious circle. If we don’t find another way to go where God is calling us, we may find that we cannot get the word out at all.

Today we are called to learn a new, old lesson. As you all well know, St. Paul’s has been working with consultants on church growth. These consultants are lovingly known as R&R and these special people are trying to help us learn some new ways of doing old things. The theory is that, like the early Christians, we are called to organize by small groups centered on a common interest. These groups will not necessarily last forever. We may organize around a particular need or project and then come apart when the project is done. It is an old way of carrying out our calls to serve God and our neighbors. An old way done up in new language. The body of the church instead of being vertical is now trying to learn how to be round again. Each and every one of us is a cell within that circle. As with our bodies, one cell joins another cell to make things grow and happen.

There was a study of Baby Boomers done not too long ago. This study indicated that at some time in their lives over 40% of the people interviewed had been in a small group that they defined as having changed their lives. Think about that for a moment: over 40% of "Boomers" – more of us than go to any church, no matter what religion we mention– over 40% believe that their lives have been changed by a small group. Like the early Christians, we are hungry for community and spiritual growth – the very things that the church should do best.

The beauty of so much of the Bible is that the words, lessons, and rules serve us as well today as they did 2000 years ago. We are learning a new, old way. Here are some of the instructions for our small groups:

1. Our small groups must take no purse: In the midst of this money and consumer oriented time, it is difficult to believe that we might do our ministry without any money. I have a friend who says, "If it is all about money – it is too late." We cannot throw money at ministry and expect it to work. We have gotten used to hiring our ministry and thinking we are done with it. Total ministry is done by all of us equally; it is not just the responsibility of the paid staff. Our ministry requires passion and commitment as well as cash.
2. Our small groups must not wear sandals: O.K., anyone wearing sandals please take them off, it is time to go barefoot! Bruce and I talked about what this likely means and his suggestion is that this is a way of saying, "Don’t go too far away." If we have shoes on, we will wander. If we are barefoot, we will more likely stay closer to home.
3. Our small groups must extend the peace greeting to each house – but don’t greet anyone on the road: I think that means we bless wherever we are working, or meeting, be it an office, the living room, or the kitchen, or the church. But, we need to be careful not to get distracted by every little thing that goes by us on the road.
4. Our small groups must not look around for better quarters: St. Paul’s is what we have. We are 137 years of age; and things, and buildings, and plumbing, and electricity may not be exactly what we want. But still, this is what we have. Some of us live in big houses, and some of us live in apartments, and some of us live on the street. Whatever we have is sufficient. It is enough. It will do.
5. Our small groups must eat and drink what is provided: That should not be too much of a problem. Fortunately, we like to cook. The food is always pretty good around here!
6. Our small groups are to cure the sick: This is a major ministry in the church. Healing Prayers, Laying on of Hands, Hospital and Nursing Home calls, Cards, Shut Ins, the Healing Team – there is much to do and the laborers are few.
7. Our small groups must announce God’s imperial rule: What we do and believe is not, and should not be a secret. Jesus directs us to tell it out. It is our mission to let the world know that we are Christians.
8. Our small groups need to remember to wipe the dust off our feet from those places that reject us: We must be clear. Not all small groups work. There will be those that sound like a good idea but, for one reason or another, just never get off the ground. That is O.K. We wipe the dust from our feet and more along. God calls us to many things in our lives. Sometimes it is just time to move along.

Finally, there is one more point that, for me, is one of the most difficult parts of ministry. Jesus says that whoever hears us, hears him. And whoever rejects us rejects him. And whoever rejects Jesus rejects the one who sent him. In the Mediterranean world, it was all about hospitality. Polite people listen and seemingly agree- even when they don’t. People don’t talk over someone else or tune out. Whoever listens to each of us hears God. And whoever rejects us rejects God. AAAARRRGGGH! That is a major responsibility on our part. We don’t think of ourselves as having that kind of authority. We are much more inclined to say "Oh, that’s O.K., if you don’t want to hear about my church, or God’s love, or Jesus, or the Bible, that’s all right. I’ll catch you another time!" But, my friends, who is going to tell them if we do not? We are working on our second full generation of people who do not know anything about God, or being an Episcopalian for that matter. The word Christianity has been so loaded down with the demands of the far political right that is has become way too scary to mention the possibility that good old liberal, Marin County residents like us could possibly be followers of Jesus. Actually, we are mostly closet followers of Jesus and this morning’s lesson says "No more! You 72 over there, no more hiding out! You go out, two by two, to lay the groundwork for God." There will be those who reject us, but I believe that it is better to be rejected than to never have spoken at all.

Jesus calls us to minister in community and our mission statement says that the people of St. Paul’s are called to be a diverse and inclusive community of Christians in the Anglican tradition. We offer a compassionate haven for reconciliation, spiritual growth, and commitment to social justice. This morning we are taking another of the many steps that will lead us on the path to our new, old ways. It is time to fill out that blue survey form in your order of service. As you fill it out, remember: Mrs. Fairfax and her ladies built a church. Jesus and the Apostles spread the word of God throughout the known world. What is it that God is calling you to do?

Amen.

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Luke 10:1-12,16-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, `Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

"Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

[Editor's Note: Some versions of the original Greek text use the number seventy, while in others the figure is seventy-two. In translations, the NRSV, quoted here, uses the lower figure, while the Jesus Seminar translation, used in preparing the sermon, prefers the larger. (Jesus Seminar - Five Gospels, p. 317)]