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Historic Assemblies of God Church Embraces Small Groups

Christ Church Assembly of God, Fort Worth, Texas, is an innovative congregation with a great history. Founded in 1910, Christ Church is older than the Assemblies of God. Most churches this age are locked into traditional Christian education programs. While Christ Church has not abandoned these programs, Darius Johnston, senior pastor, realized, “We needed to get smaller before we could get bigger. I don’t think you can be an Acts 2 church without small groups.

“When I first started here in 1986, the main thrust was a Sunday morning gathering. We only had a couple hundred people in the church at that time. We started in Sunday School, but we’ve reached a point where we couldn’t just keep building buildings. And, there is a percentage of people from other denominational backgrounds that think Sunday School is a foreign thing. Small groups are much more open to their lifestyle,” Johnston said.

About a year ago, Christ Church joined a Lifetogether™ consulting group in the Fort Worth area for a 1-year journey. At that time, Christ Church had 790 adults on Sunday morning and 30 small groups. By stepping out in faith and following a few simple principles, there are now more than 875 adults worshiping on Sundays and 70 small groups.

Associate Pastor Stephen Blandino attributes this to the fact “small groups helped our people see that Christ can be in the living room, not just in the church on Sunday mornings. Sometimes it can be easier to invite a friend to join you in your home, at Starbucks, or over lunch at work than in a church service. But once they start in the small group, it’s not that big of a step to come on Sunday morning.”

“Our big payoff is that I have more people involved in ministry than I’ve ever had before,” Johnston reports. “A lot of pastors have never been a part of a healthy small group. I had never really had that in 48 years either. Now, I’ve found the importance of being connected with other believers in a small group. People get much more real sitting in a living room with a cup of coffee. If you’re afraid of answering the questions, maybe you need to go back to the altar and see what you really believe.”

The small-group success at Christ Church is a great example of leveraging the latent potential of the body of Christ. “By taking small groups into their workplace and their homes, our members have proven that being a follower of Christ is something you do 24/7 and not just on Sunday mornings,” Johnston concludes.

Brett Eastman, Rancho Santa Margarita, California