"And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart…"
Small groups seek to develop deeper relationships between each other and with God through fellowship, prayer, growth, worship, and outreach. So, the two fold purpose of small groups is to:
1) Experience community, and
2) Expand community
The local church should be a church of small groups, not simply a church with small groups.
"The small group, then, must be both supplemental and normative – supplemental in that it does not replace corporate worship; normative in the sense of being basic church structure, equally important with corporate worship." - Howard Snyder, author and professor of the history and theology of mission at Asbury Theological Seminary