Groups That Work: The Missing Ingredient

Introduction 

by D. Elton Trueblood

Many of us are dedicated, but we do not know what to do to implement our dedication. We believe, with all our hearts, that Jesus Christ provides a firm center for our lives, but we do not know how to be His contemporary apostles. We realize that we are so badly outnumbered that any effort which we make is likely to seem inconsequential. We want to raise our voices, but when we do they sound like voices crying in the wilderness.

There is one tremendous answer to this problem: we must help one another! No individual can see very far in the encircling darkness, but as Robert Barclay recognized three hundred years ago, several small candles may make a great light. "As many candles lighted and put in one place," he wrote, "do greatly augment the light, and make it more to shine forth, so when many are gathered together in the same life, there is more of the glory of God and His power appears, to the refreshment of each individual." I believe that this is true, and that this is why there cannot be any vital Christianity without an increased sense of being members one of another. I know that groups may fail, but I also know that there is no power without them. Neither I nor anyone else can be a Christian alone.

In the political sphere, men speak of operating from a position of strength, but this is never possible for committed Christians. We operate, if we operate at all, from a position of weakness. In the physical world, a chain is no stronger than its weakest link, but this situation has no parallel in the Church of Jesus Christ. If it had, we should experience nothing but failure, for all of us are weak links. The glorious fact is that---since we are more than mechanical units---weak links may be wonderfully helpful to other weak links.

All of the essays in this collection arise from a sense of personal inadequacy. The authors are people with a sense of needing one another. I write this confidently because I know so many of the authors. They are my friends, and the answers which they give arise from personal need. They have found a few answers, but no answer is able to stand alone. That is why this book is an anthology. As Descartes observed more than three centuries ago, books are usually better when each is written by a single author, just as a house is more satisfactory when designed by a single architect. On the whole this is true, but, in the present case, the structure is made stronger by the contributions of many.

This would not be so if the book were devoted to philosophy or to theological formulation of the faith. In that case coherence would be a pearl of great price. But this is a book devoted to Christian practice, and the more practical suggestions we caw get, the better. I am very glad that the authors have not hesitated to be specific and to be clear. The waters have not been muddied to make them look deep. It is a joy, for instance, to read the words of Sam Shoemaker, a blessed memory, and to contemplate his "four steps." There may be more steps than these, but I am very sure that there are this many, and that any person’s life will be deepened if he tries seriously to take these steps.

If I were to try to indicate what marks these essays most vividly, I should mention the fertile cross of a warm evangelical faith with rugged common sense. These authors do not claim to present a "new theology," but they are willing to make new application of the affirmative faith which sustains them. This faith, being essentially experiential, naturally becomes experimental.

After this book is in print there is very little excuse for the person who says, "I want to start a group, but I don’t know how to begin." There is no single way. No one has a copyright on the small group movement! There is no central office where inquirers may learn the right way to proceed. All are experimenting together and all are learning. But when we learn, even in a small way, we dare not keep what we have discovered to ourselves. As the decent scientist publishes his findings, so those who are of the Way must recount their journeys. We walk better when we do not walk alone. This is not only a book about fellowship; it is demonstration of the fellowship of discovery.

• An informative article about applying FAW principles to one's daily life is The Jesus Style in Relationships.

• Sam Shoemaker's Twelve Steps to Power

• To read about the Four Primary Relationships check out The Realm of Right Relationships