The following is a message from Pastor Dave:

Small Groups: The Key To Life-Change! 
Want your life to be changed, upgraded, and transformed?   Get in a small group. 



The idea and importance of small groups goes back to the Garden of Eden when God told Adam “it is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).  So God put Adam in a small group.  He created Eve and told the new couple “to be fruitful and increase in number” (Genesis 1:28)—in other words, multiply yourself and make your small group grow.  As the Old Testament shows, growing up in small home fellowship (what we call families) was God’s idea from the very beginning of the human race.  With time, these family flocks were organized into 12 tribes and those tribes were organized into a nation. 

In the New Testament, Jesus brings the small group model beautifully into focus in His selection of the 12 Apostles.  While ministering to the multitudes, our Lord developed close relationships with a dozen disciples.  Together they learned what it meant to fulfill the Great Commandment.  As a team of twelve they learned how to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40).  As the disciples began to internalize what it meant to live within the context of a compassionate community, Jesus challenged his followers to see to it that the care they were given was extended to every seeking person on the planet.    “Go and make disciples of all the nations” was the battle cry of what we refer to as Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). 

In essence, Jesus charged his followers to go and make small groups.  Invite people into a relationship with God and people and help them to journey the planet within a platoon of people.   After Pentecost, the apostolic church continued the practice of meeting in small groups for “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).  These family-like gatherings have characterized vital discipleship in the Body of Christ throughout all of history.  

Today, with the erosion of family values and the collapse of family units, many folks no longer receive the nurturing care that used to come from happily married parents, or from close extended family, or from living in a small town community over time.  Consequently, the need to join a “circle of love” has never been greater.  Call them what you may—a Bible Study, a Youth Group, a Servant Team, a Task Force, a Worship Team, a Church Committee, an Elder Board, or a LifeGroup—we are all commissioned, by Biblical mandate, to live out our lives in various “care clusters”.     

Most people at NorthPark love their families, work hard, and enjoy our Sunday services.  But sadly, many still remain more disconnected from meaningful relationships than they prefer.  Many of our folks have good friends, but they remain unsatisfied and starved for what they really need.   Small groups bring a layer of structure and intentionality to our otherwise random and unstructured friendships.  All of us need a predictable environment of like-minded souls where the love of Christ is felt and expressed—a place where we can “do life” together.   

At NorthPark our Celebration events (like our weekly Sunday services, our season holiday services, and our passage-of-life events like weddings and dedications) are great places to bring guests and to host big gatherings.  

Our Connecting events (like our retreats, socials, adult education classes and men’s & women’s ministries) are helpful places to make friends.  These medium-sized gatherings are perfect to target specific needs and specific stages of life such as youth, men, women, couples, and singles. 

But it is our small groups that serve as our primary Care events.  It is in homes that people usually get the best shepherding, encouragement, prayer, and support.   It is in small groups that grace and truth get hammered out, where vital “one another” ministry takes place, and where the “fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) is best experienced.   It is in small groups that people begin to feel like their lives have meaning, that they belong, and that they are part of a family. 

Want your life to be changed, upgraded, and transformed?   I mean really change, grow and mature.  Get in a small group! 

--Pastor Dave 

If you are interested in getting into a small group, contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   or  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .