Page 58 - Digital Church in a Lonely World

ARE SMALL GROUPS THE ANSWER?

The embrace of online content heightens the role small groups may be able to play in the future In
the existing, traditional church model, building community can be hard during crowded weekend
services, especially in larger churches. The primary solution has been small groups. One of the rising
challenges we have with Millennials and Gen Z is that they are time-poor and often cannot schedule in
a traditional small group as well as weekend services.

But there is also a bigger challenge. If our primary gatherings do not get better at genuinely facilitating
community, and we expect to achieve all of that in a small group, we need to examine our culture at a
deeper level.

For Millennials and Gen Z, building community is a primary reason
why they are a part of a local church. So if our weekend services are
built around “an experience,” and we have to send them to another

part of our model to build community, we may risk not providing for
their biggest needs.

Put simply, we have to get better at building community in both big environments and small. Anytime
people gather, we need to be intentional about how we are helping them engage in meaningful and
authentic community.

For Millennials and Gen Z, building community is a primary reason why they are a part of a local
church. So if our weekend services are built around “an experience,” and we have to send them to
another part of our model to build community, we may risk not providing for their biggest needs.

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