Small Groups
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Key Insights
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Internal or Mission Focus
While small groups have great potential for supporting parishioners in gospel-based discernment, simply gathering people together is not enough. Just as on the macro level parishes as a whole have a tendency to turn inward, on the micro level individuals and small groups can have the same tendency. |
Quotations
Small church communities offer an important and unique means of formation for the new evangelization. They strengthen their members to persevere in their faith and mission, providing both inspiration and practical support. To be involved in the new evangelization, however, requires that members of such communities be as ready for engagement with the world outside their community as they are for deepening their relationships within it. If the small community is to be a true expression of the mystery of the Church, then it must be "a communion of God's people living out the mission of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit" (Communion and Mission, p. 8). Their members meet in small groups with their associates or friends, examine the methods and results of their apostolic activity, and compare their daily way of life with the Gospel. |
Small church communities not only foster the faith of individuals; they are living cells that build up the Body of Christ. They are to be signs and instruments of unity. As basic units of the parish, they serve to increase the corporate life and mission of the parish by sharing in its life generously with their talents and support.... Across the country, there are examples of Catholic men and women gathering in small groups to examine the moral dimensions of their lives and work. They enlarge their vision beyond the immediate and the individual experience when they are enabled to examine the structures and processes that shape social life. Small Christian communities, for all the benefits they offer to members in face-to- face contact and support, can struggle with implementing the social agenda that many of them avow. The temptation can be simply to bring other community members into the "private" sphere and celebrate what they can offer to one another, rather than envisioning the community as an opportunity to reach out toward the public. Related to this is the small community's tendency toward homogeneity, especially if self-chosen rather than organized through a larger congregation; diversity is not encouraged. And in the very middle-class character of such groups, the sense of unlimited choice as to the group's direction can itself be paralyzing. The question must be asked, then: Are the efforts by white, educated, middle-class North Americans to form supportive groups serving to gather our energies for social change, or actually dissipating them? Maureen R. O'Brien
"The Public Church as a Model For Religious Education" Religious Education |
Church Documents
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Videos
- Theology of Work Project on Vimeo (Vimeo)
Articles
- Vocation Education (James VanOosting, America)
Organizations & Websites
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Parish Ideas
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Parish Resources
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4-page overview handout used as a bulletin wrapper to introduce the concept to a parish.
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A set of single-page handouts used as bulletin inserts on various faith & work topics.
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