Description:

A small Christian community is a group of eight to twelve Christians that gather weekly—ideally in dorms, apartments or homes— for fellowship, encouragement, spiritual growth and evangelistic outreach. While the small Christian community (SCC) actually dates back to the earliest Christians, in recent years the Church has witnessed a renewed appreciation for the values and vitality that they often bring to parish life.

Relevance:

Small Christian communities have proven to be a privileged place of evangelical and pastoral ministry within the Church. Noting this effectiveness, John Paul II recently exhorted pastoral leaders to “exert more effort in the formation of suitable community leaders and animators, so that our small Christian communities may develop into truly self-evangelizing communities in which the faithful are progressively formed in the faith in an ongoing manner, and trained to be evangelizers and witnesses to Christ reaching out to those who do not yet know Him sufficiently.”

Catholic Website Links:

http://www.emmausjourney.org/

Emphasizing evangelization and discipleship, offering topical and lectionary based materials

http://www.evangelicalcatholic.org/

Emphasizing “the Church as a vibrant evangelical movement,” check out the link: Small groups from A-Z.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/d/ddz/faith.htm

Guide to a range of online SCC resources

http://www.disciplesinmission.org/

Paulist Father’s SCC program

http://www.campusrenew.org/

Campus Renew

http://www.renewtot.org/

RENEW International's Theology on Tap

http://www.clcyya.org

Christian Life Community (CLC)

Protestant Links:

http://www.smallgroups.com/

Comprehensive SCC resources

http://www.intervarsity.org/biblestu/page/bible-studies-index

InterVarsity’s site for small group training, problem solving and growth

http://www.navpress.com/

Pilgrimage Training: a ministry of NavPress and one of the largest SCC training ministries in the U.S.