A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original review appears below. J.H. (Hans) Kouwenberg is pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church, Abbotsford, B.C., and editor of Channels.
Icenogle, Gareth, Biblical Foundations for Small Group Ministry: An Integrational Approach; Downers Grove, IL; InterVarsity, 1994, 396 pages.
Some people think that small groups may enhance their congregation’s ministry by providing something else for their people to do. At best, this includes people who are searching for better ways for their congregation to study the Bible. Other people think that small groups may be an ideal way to defuse the anonymity which a larger congregation might foster in their rather larger attendance at worship services. Small groups would serve as a way of creating community and personal care as well as offering opportunities for study, ministry and mission.
But is this the biblical way to consider and utilize a small group ministry? Are small groups a means to an end or are they not the major way in which God works with his people?
Icenogle provides an extensive Old and New Testament context for small groups, arguing that community is found in the very nature and character of God and in the way God works to bring people into a new humanity that is learning how to care for one another. Christian congregations ought to consider and form small groups not so much because they “work” in getting people to know God and each other, but because they are part and parcel of who God is and what God desires to reveal to us. “Certain divine and human realities… are ‘imaged’ and ‘reflected’ where two or more persons come together in the presence of God” (p. 11). Believing and understanding this is the key to the transformational potential of a congregation that moves beyond merely “having” some small groups to augment its ministry. Christian congregations – and elders in those congregations – need to be convinced that the biblical and theological “why’s” of small groups are much more important than the merely functional “how’s” if their groups are to last beyond mere flashes in the pan. If only we can come to see that the intimate, dialogic and “connected” community of the effective small group is the way in which God has always sought to work with a “disconnected” humanity, we might come to take small group ministry more seriously. Icenogle concludes his book with a four-page “Summary of Biblical and Theological Foundations for Small Group Ministry” (pp. 371- 374) that could provide a helpful basis for discussion with congregational leaders about this issue.
In making it a priority to get, read and use this book, I hasten to add that Gareth Icenogle is no mere theoretician. This is not a dry and dusty read! Icenogle brings an integration of theological, sociological and educational principles to the text. He provides a wealth of anecdotal illustration. For some years, he has served with Roberta Hestenes, a seasoned small group leader, in teaching the Doctor of Ministry Seminary courses in small groups at Fuller. He has struggled to work out and practise principles of an effective small group ministry at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas and – demonstrating a commitment to truly shared leadership inherent in small groups – he now serves as a co-pastor at First Presbyterian in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Icenogle also speaks on small group ministry across North America and internationally. Thus in this book Icenogle has plenty of tips and insights to share.