re: Anyone here a part of a small faith group?

ours has been great, but we have some pretty amazing people in it. It really depends on the makeup of the group and their motivations. I would highly advise doing it with the right folks (preferably similar in age/point in life)

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"AKA" a Cult?....nope.

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Why do people who have no understanding of a subject feel compelled to comment?

My wife and I lead a couples small group. We started going to one about 5 years ago and after 3 years we decided to lead our own. We go to I guess what you would call a mega church on the Northshore. Getting involved in small groups has been the best decision we've ever made. Most of our closest and most genuine friends have been made through them. We have different types at our church. Mens, women's, couples, divorce groups, parenting, addiction, etc. We were kind of just going to church because we thought we should, but we weren't really getting anything out of it. The small group really made things more personal for us and it allowed us to ask questions, discuss things. Things you couldn't do during a regular church service. With so many people and only a handful of pastors, small groups were a great way to get clarification and understanding from people with more knowledge. But our small group leaders never made it seem like it was "the way", it was always framed as "well what I believe" or "how I'd handle that situation would be" . They really allowed us to be ourselves and we always felt 'safe' to share our stories and our hearts. It really was a great factor in our salvation and has helped in all aspects of our lives. We've been in small groups with people of all different walks of life and stages, so it was great to have someone to shine a perspective on or just get advice.

You'll never have the quality of personal relationships in a 'church' like you do in a small group. The early church consisted of small groups, not buildings that the religious professionals called 'churches'. Modern day 'churches' are no more than businesses attempting to grow their particular denomination (insert money joke here).

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You'll never have the quality of personal relationships in a 'church' like you do in a small group.

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This can be sometimes true, but not always.

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The early church consisted of small groups, not buildings that the religious professionals called 'churches'.

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That's because the Romans would kill them if they practiced their faith.

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Modern day 'churches' are no more than businesses attempting to grow their particular denomination (insert money joke here).

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This is true only of small portion of churches. Most churches obviously want to grow their congregations, that is their mission; however, it is not money that drives this. The more money they take in, the more they minister to. There is no "money" in churches. What comes in goes out in ministry.

My wife and I lead a group as well.

I guess you could call our church a "mega church" probably about 2.5 - 3k people on a Sunday (pretty small town of about 60k people.)

We push small groups heavily. While we all see each other on Sundays and encourage people to be there, Small home groups are the main push of the church. The leadership doesn't really care how much we have on a Sunday morning, but how our small groups are growing is how we measure the growth of our church, because that means people are growing in friendships, not just warm seats on a sunday morning.

I'm a pretty closed off loner kind of a guy and the only people i talk to during the week are guys from my small group. it's not like they are my only friends, but they are probably the closest.

I sit in church, sing, and listen to sermons. I agree that this is not all there is to a relationship with God; and therefore do much more than these few things. Church is part of the equation though, and that was one of Jesus' messages.

Jesus also instructed Peter to form his church. There was an established (Jewish) church at the time and Jesus condemned many of their actions; but he did not condemn church itself.

I have first hand knowledge of church finances from sitting on church councils. I can tell you unequivocally that they are not multi-billion dollar industries. We struggle to make ends meet and when the times are good we increase our spending on ministry.

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I sit in church, sing, and listen to sermons. I agree that this is not all there is to a relationship with God; and therefore do much more than these few things. Church is part of the equation though, and that was one of Jesus' messages.

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I was speaking more about relationships with people being closer in a small group instead of a building based, professional clergy, show up and sit on a pew religious system.

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Jesus also instructed Peter to form his church.

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I suggest you research what 'church' means. It doesn't mean a building based, professional clergy religious system.

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There was an established (Jewish) church at the time and Jesus condemned many of their actions; but he did not condemn church itself.

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That system was ended and destroyed by 70ad. Jesus never taught, nor did His disciples, a building based, professional clergy religious system.

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I have first hand knowledge of church finances from sitting on church councils. I can tell you unequivocally that they are not multi-billion dollar industries. We struggle to make ends meet and when the times are good we increase our spending on ministry.

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Of course the religious systems are multi-billion dollar businesses. For example, the Mormon Church has estimated annual revenues of 7 billion, the Roman Catholic Church, 170 billion (USA alone). I wouldn't doubt the real revenue stream isn't approaching a trillion dollars for the various religious systems.

yes

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Of course the religious systems are multi-billion dollar businesses. For example, the Mormon Church has estimated annual revenues of 7 billion, the Roman Catholic Church, 170 billion (USA alone). I wouldn't doubt the real revenue stream isn't approaching a trillion dollars for the various religious systems.

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Revenue is gross income, not profit. I am neither Mormon or Catholic so I cannot attest to their systems, but I can attest to my church's. You cannot make the blanket statements that you make without fully understanding what you're talking about. I can tell you that your statements are not universally accurate.

I differ with your statements about buildings and organized churches as well and see scripture on my side there.

In the end, we're not going to agree so let's focus on what we have in common. We're both brothers in Christ and that is what matters.