Introduction
Many churches have some form of housegroup structure.
They may be called by other names - Homegroups, Midweek Groups,
Cell Groups, and so on - but they all share many of the same
benefits and problems.
There is a great deal of useful literature and training
material available on the subject of housegroups. The
purpose of this document is to provide a brief introduction and
overview of the topic, to put the more specific training into
context.
It is hard for the housegroups to be successful if the people
in the housegroups - and especially the leaders! - do not
understand their purpose and role. Sadly, after talking
with people from many different churches, it seems that this is
far too often the case.
There are various benefits to be gained from the kind of
systematic support for housegroups being described here.
- It facilitates two way communication between the
congregational and housegroup leaders.
- It enables all the leaders in the church to share in
discerning God's will.
- It provides pastoral backup for the housegroup leaders.
- It enables the church to provide more resources to the
housegroups - both time and materials.
- It helps the housegroup leaders grow spiritually.
- It provides an objective view of the housegroup when this is
needed.
- It enables housegroups to care for the congregational
leaders more effectively.
- It helps the church function in a more united way.
- It provides opportunities for cross-fertilisation between
housegroups.
- What is a Housegroup?
- A Church in a Home
What is a housegroup? In Biblical terms, there is only
one possible answer: it is a church that meets in someone's
home.
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A housegroup is a church that meets in a home.
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By 'church' I mean, of course, a bunch of people that are
committed to following Jesus, committed to each other, and
committed to the wider church.
- The Priorities of a Church
As a church, the housegroup must have the same five priorities
that every church is supposed to share (mission, prophecy,
evangelism, pastoral care and teaching) so that its members can
grow to maturity together.
The housegroup must like every church, discover how to embody
those five priorities in a way that is appropriate for the unique
individuals that comprise the group, in their unique
circumstances.
Following Jesus means that we are totally committed to building
the Kingdom of God. Building the Kingdom and building
disciples (bringing every member to maturity) are not
alternatives, but two sides of the same coin. The only way
to grow as a Christian is to follow Jesus in His mission to make
the Kingdom of God a reality here and now, by using the unique
personality and gifts God has given you, and as part of the body He
has placed you in.
- A Distinctive Church
Just as every church and every housegroup has the same mission,
it is equally the case that every church and every housegroup is
unique. It is a paradox of the Christian life: the more we
become like Jesus, the more we become ourselves and unlike each
other.
Churches vary in the details of housegroup organisation, but
one feature is consistent: each housegroup has a significant
degree of autonomy. To put it another way: housegroup
leadership is real leadership. As a housegroup
leader, you are responsible for the people in your group.
What does it mean to say you are 'responsible' for the people
in your group? Clearly, it is a relative, not an absolute
responsibility. It involves a variety of tasks, such as
understanding where your people are, hearing what God wants to do
with each individual and the group as a whole, and initiating
whatever is needed to see His will made a reality for the group
and the people in it - the leader included.
Of course, there are always boundaries within
which you are expected to operate, and these need to be clearly
agreed with the congregational leadership. The key point is
that a housegroup leader must act as a leader, and not just as a follower
carrying out the instructions passed down from on high.
- Housegroups and the Congregation
Housegroups are a vital part of church life, possibly the
single most important part. The congregational leaders must
be totally committed to the housegroups and their leaders.
This commitment must be worked in ways that are both practical and
obvious to the congregation - otherwise they won't understand the
commitment of the leadership to the housegroups.
If the congregation understands that the housegroups are a vital
aspect of the way in which God works in and through the church,
housegroups will be given the prominence and priority they
require. If it appears that the housegroups are ignored or
sidelined by the congregational leadership, they will find it very
hard to function as God intended.
It goes without saying that the congregational leadership
should all be in housegroups. If at all possible, they
should not be leading any of the housegroups - it is almost
impossible to give the time and energy a housegroup needs if you
are also responsibe for the whole congragation.
The congregational leaders must agree a policy on the amount
of autonomy the housegroups are allowed to have. It is
vital that this is clearly understood by all the leaders -
congregational and housegroup - and almost as vital that it is
written down in a simple and clear way and circulated to all the
leaders.
Many of the common problems with housegroups happen because of
confusion or inconsistency in this area. The congregational
leaders and housegroup leaders share responsibility for the
housegroups. If the manner of the sharing is not
understood, you will find there are times when nobody acts because
each group thinks the other is responsible and doing something,
and times when the two groups act in contradictory ways because
they both think they are responsible.
There will usually be some people within the congregation who
cannot attend a housegroup but still need to be cared for,
possibly by means of regular visits. There are several ways
of organising care for these people, and one way is for the
housegroups to share responsibility between them.
- Supporting Housegroups
One serious problem in many churchs is that they fail to care
properly for the housegroup leaders. This will not happen
without concentrated and deliberate effort. Most of the
time, leaders are working flat out on coping with problems and
crises, or developing new plans and programmes - sustaining
existing structures tends to take a lower priority and hence
become neglected.
Support for housegroups must be expressed in a few key
ways.
- Communication
Housegroups cannot play their part in church life without
effective and sustained communication. The following
approaches have been found to be helpful.
- From the front. The importance of housegroups
and the principles they embody need to be taught and affirmed
from the front in Sunday services.
- Meetings. The housegroup leaders need to get
together on a regular basis with the congregational leaders.
Once every three months is a common frequency, perhaps
combined with the monthly congregational leadership meeting.
These are meetings of the joint leadership: times when
the church leaders can pray, discuss, plan and listen to each
other - not times for the congregational leaders to tell the
housegroup leaders what to do.
- Written information. Most churches produce a
weekly prayer or news sheet and a monthly magazine of general
interest to people in and friends of the church. There
is generally considerable scope for a less fequent publication
aimed at the members of the housegroups - the timing can easily
fit with the joint meetings of the congregational and housegroup
leaders.
- Housegroup list. A full list of the members of
each housegroup and the congregational members who are not in
housegroups for any reason should be made available. In
most churches it should be updated at least every six months,
and certainly no more than every twelve months.
- Oversight Team
Each congregation needs a small team to provide oversight of
the housegroups. For some, the congregatiional leadership
will carry this responsibility, but in many situations it is
better for the responsibility to be delegated to another team.
This team should include at least one member of the
congregationaal leadership, and many or all of the members should
have been housegroup leaders in the past.
The housegroup oversight team will make the health of the
housegroups their primary responsibility. It is hard to
maintain this level of interest in housegroups within a leadership
group that is generally involved in many different issues and
priorities concerning the congregation as a whole.
The housegroup oversight team will aim to keep in touch with
all the housegroups on a regular basis, to know what they are
doing and not doing, who is attending and not attending, and how
a representative number of people feel about their
housegroups.
They should be able to alert housegroup leaders to potential
problems before they happen - at least, some problems some of the
time. They should be able to talk with the housegroup
leaders about their groups in an informed way, and to ask useful
and relevant questions when they meet the housegroup leaders.
They should, of course, be in housegroups, but not leading
them, and they should not be expected to provide support for their
own housegroup leader.
The housegroup oversight team will do their best to help new
people find which group they will best fit into, help the
housegroups with any planning or reorganisation where needed, and
do their best to ensure that the meetings with the Elders
are used as fully as possible.
- Pastoral Care
Members of the housegroup oversight team must be given specific
responsibility for the housegroups and their leaders. In
general, it is helpful for this responsibility to be shared
between two or three of the leaders: more than one, as you can be
sure that not everybody will respond to the same personality and
style of care, and rarely more than three, otherwise coordination
of the housegroup care becomes too unwieldy.
In particular, these leaders are responsible for
pastoral care of the housegroup leaders, not of the people in the
housegroups. Of course, any request for help with people in
the group should be responded to, but the idea is to help the
housegroup leaders in their leadership of the group, not to take
the job away from them. The form and extent of the contact
should be negotiated between the team and the housegroup
leaders.
- Training
There are many training resources are available to help people
become better housegroup leaders. Some of these are
specific (intended for an audience of actual or potential
housegroup leaders), but much of it is generic (looking at skills
and issues which are important to many people other than
housegroup leaders). Types of training include:
- Books and booklets. There is a vast amount of helpful
material on the market.
- Training weekends for housegroup leaders or others.
- Tapes are a good way of supplying many people with new
ideas
- Conferences and Christian gatherings may not be specifically
aimed at training, but they may encourage and inspire.
These gatherings can expose people to different ideas and
approaches, and this will often be stimulating and helpful.
- Housegroup Activities
- Housegroup Meetings
There is a danger that the meeting can become the focus of
housegroup life, rather than an expression of it. But a
regular meeting is one key element for any successful
housegroup.
Some form of planning is needed, but the plans can be flexible,
and you do not have to follow the same format every evening.
It is difficult to give enough time to everything in one
evening - worship, sharing, study, prayer, planning and so on -
so you may wish to emphasise some aspects more on some
occasions, and the remaining aspects on other occasions.
- Discipleship in the Housegroup
In many churches, the primary function of the housegroup is
seen as pastoral care. However, pastoral care is only one
aspect of the more basic purpose, which is discipleship.
All the members of the church need to be growing. They
all need to be exercising their gifts, serving one another,
discovering practical ways to express God's love. Everyone
has a vital contribution to make, and this contribution is often
made in the context of the housegroup. People grow as the
give, as they act, as they contribute, as they see God answering
prayer, as they love.
Everyone also needs to be growing in their understanding, and
the housegroup provides a unique and safe environment in which
people can ask questions and explore issues which affect their
everyday lives.