"Small groups are the future of evangelism in our territory," say leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the former Soviet Union.
“Small groups are the future of evangelism in our territory,” say leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the former Soviet Union.
Administrators of the church’s Euro-Asia region, which includes most former Soviet republics, met this month near Irkutsk in central Siberia to discuss what they call “a whole new way of thinking about outreach.” They voted to make small group ministry the main basis for evangelism throughout the region.
“That means we’ll need a completely different approach for everything we do,” says Jeff Scoggins, who helps coordinate strategic planning and evangelism for the region. “We’re looking at every department in the church, at each of our goals, and in every case we’re asking, ‘How can we use small groups to reach this goal?’”
The function of each small group will vary according to location and needs, but most will meet together regularly to pray, study the Bible, offer spiritual support, or participate in community service. Michael Kaminsky, an experienced church leader in the region, estimates it may take three to four years for the small-group concept to permeate every level of Adventist planning and mission in Russia, Ukraine, and the surrounding nations.
This summer 300 new pastors will receive intensive training in small-group principles at the church’s seminary near Tula, Russia. In September they will be sent to areas without Adventist churches, and each pastor will start a new church by beginning with a small group of eight members. “These 300 pastors will show that the idea can work,” says Kaminsky. “Soon we want to have at least one small group meeting in every church in our territory.”
“The defining characteristic of the early Christian church is that every single person was involved in church life, not just paid pastors,” says Scoggins. “These small groups aim the church toward the early Christian model by helping people connect with each other.”
Artur Stele, president of the Adventist Church in the Euro-Asia region, and his wife, Galina, a theologian and church leader, recently spent a week in Brazil meeting with Adventist leaders in South America. In the past two years small-group evangelism has proven unexpectedly successful in South America, which ranks as one of the largest and fastest growing Adventist territories in the world.
“These small groups are their secret,” says Kaminsky. “We can learn from their experience because Russia has much in common with South America—the openness of the people and their willingness to meet together and pray together. We both have sociable societies.”
In the early 1990s Adventists and other Christian denominations relied heavily on large-scale public meetings as a major form of evangelism throughout the former Soviet nations. While such meetings will continue, their popularity has declined, and Adventist leaders have sought other ways to fulfill the needs of an increasingly materialistic society.
