The Centrality of Small Groups

Wesley saw the religion of his time as empty. People “went to church” but that was about it. He once remarked that his greatest fear for the Methodist movement is that we would slip back to this way of understanding church, something Wesley called, “having the form of religion without its power”. To help people put their faith into action in everyday life he formed small groups. The purpose of the groups was prayer, study, accountability, and service to others. Wesley believed that Christians needed small groups in order to live out their faith. In Part 2, we will talk about his time at Oxford College, the beginning of the first small group of “Methodists” and the importance of groups today.