According to the most excellent book, Missional Church (Guder), the church is a community of God's redeemed people who are an expression of God's Kingdom. The church provides a foretaste of the kind of life we will have in heaven - unconditional love, service to one another, no taking advantage of others, no unresolved conflict, no self-centeredness, rather God is at the center and we enjoy him without any barriers - you get the picture right? ...it's heaven!
The church leaders must model and cultivate their church community so that it is always moving toward this ideal.
I think that the small group context is one of the best ways to accomplish this, because:
a) small groups are small - there are fewer issues than in an entire congregation
b) small groups tend to attract similar types of people - or at least people who like each other - so there is already an advantage.
So, teach the small group leaders (or keep reminding them) that their small group is to be a little piece of heaven. Hmmm...that sounds like a great challenge!
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