Week 1 - MICROCHURCH
Welcome to Be The Way!
Be The Way is a six-week group immersion into MicroChurch.
It’s for:
New MicroChurches that want to discover the essential DNA of being a MicroChurch
Existing small groups that want to explore the possibility of transitioning to a MicroChurch
Potential leaders who want to prepare for leading a MicroChurch (in conjunction with Lead The Way).
Welcome to MicroChurch!
Introductions
Let’s start with some introductions.
Tell us your name and where you grew up and what you liked most and what you liked least about where you grew up.
How did you end up in this gathering and what do you hope to get out of it?
What’s Church?
The New Testament church was first called The Way—and for good reason. They followed Jesus, who is The Way, and they followed His way of life. Let’s learn from our OG the way to be church.
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
Acts 2:36-47 (NIV)
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Read the passage again.
What stands out to you in the passage?
What excites you about the passage?
How has your experience of church been like and dislike the experience of the early church here in Acts?
If you were to boil church down to its essence, you could describe it this way. The church has four crucial priorities based on four key relationships:
WORSHIP - Our Relationship with Jesus
DISCOVERY - Our Relationship with the Bible
COMMUNITY - Our Relationship with Each Other
MISSION - Our Relationship with Others
Wherever you have these four priorities and relationships, you have a church. That’s because that church seeks Jesus passionately (WORSHIP), lives life biblically (DISCOVERY), loves one another sacrificially (COMMUNITY) and shares the Good News of Jesus boldly (MISSION).
Look through Acts 2:36-47 again and highlight where each of the four priorities and relationships are found in the passage.
That’s church. Now, what about MicroChurch?
Why MicroChurch?
MicroChurch is a smaller way of being church.
1. Small Is Simple
By removing complexity, we can focus on priorities. Most churches carry the weight of buildings, budgets, and programs. A MicroChurch is lighter—it’s built on relationships. And that’s freeing—because when the Body is simple, it can give its energy to what matters most:
WORSHIP - Our Relationship with Jesus
DISCOVERY - Our Relationship with the Bible
COMMUNITY - Our Relationship with Each Other
MISSION - Our Relationship with Others
2. Small Is Engaging
1 Corinthians 14:26
What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these be done to build each other up.
Everyone gets to play in a MicroChurch. You are prayed for. You contribute your voice to the Discovery Bible Study. You exercise your spiritual gifts—encouragement, discernment, or leadership. Small creates space for involvement, and engagement fuels discipleship.
Here are four simple ground rules for engagement:
Everyone gets to participate.
No one gets to dominate.
What’s shared here stays here.
What's learned here leaves here.
3. Small Is Formational
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
MicroChurch isn’t just a way to gather—it’s a way to grow. In a smaller setting, we’re not just attending or even participating—we’re maturing. As we practice the New Testament “one anothers”—loving and encouraging, teaching and admonishing, confessing and forgiving, and praying for and caring for one another—our faith is formed. As we use our spiritual gifts to build up the Body, we ourselves are built up. What we practice together, we carry into everyday life.
4. Small Is Missional
Matthew 28:19-20 (ISV)
19 Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.
MicroChurch doesn’t just form our faith, it commissions it. As we mature as disciples of Jesus in community, we are mobilized to disciple others in our circles of influence. As we multiply disciples and leaders, we accelerate the spread of simple Christian communities anywhere and everywhere.
GROW AND GO!
5. Small Is Strategic
MicroChurches don’t cost a lot of money. They don’t take a lot of resources. They use the people, relationships, and spaces already available. They work in every culture and context. So MicroChurches are accessible, contextual, sustainable, reproducible—and therefore unstoppable.
Matthew 13:33 (NLT)
Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
6. Small Is Biblical
Romans 16:3-5 (NLT)
3 Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. 4 In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. 5 Also give my greetings to THE CHURCH THAT MEETS IN THEIR HOME (emphasis added).
The bottom line: the early church gathered in homes. Public spaces—like the Temple in Jerusalem and a lecture hall in Ephesus—were used for evangelism and public dialogue. But homes were where the church lived, grew, and multiplied. This pattern appears throughout the New Testament (1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 2).
The Church of the Catacombs by Walter Oetting
If you had asked, “Where is the church?” in any important city of the ancient world where Christianity had penetrated in the first century, you would have been directed to a group of worshiping people gathered in a house. There was no special building or other tangible wealth with which to associate “church”, only people!
Which reason for MicroChurch do you find most compelling and why?
Can you think of another reason for MicroChurch?
MicroChurch or Small Group?
Isn’t a MicroChurch just a small group?
What’s the difference between a MicroChurch and a small group?
The key difference between a MicroChurch and a small group is that a MicroChurch IS YOUR CHURCH. It’s your primary spiritual family. It’s where you put your relational and ministry energy. It’s where you pursue Worship, Discovery, Community and Mission with your brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, when your MicroChurch gives financially, you discern together how to use that money for God’s Kingdom.
How would your view of MicroChurch change if you saw it as your primary church family?
How might your experience of church change if you fully committed to a MicroChurch family?
MicroChurch or House Church?
Why do we call these simple expressions of church MicroChurches rather than House Churches?
If we don't limit these basic Christian communities to homes, where else could they be started?
How does this open up the possibility of planting outposts of God’s Kingdom into every crack and crevice of society?
We Are Church Documentary
Francis Chan and a community of simple churches in San Francisco have been living out the key relationships and crucial priorities of MicroChurch for some time. Here’s their story. When you see a larger group together, it is probably a network gathering with many of their house churches coming together for Worship, Community and Mission.
What are your reactions to this video? What questions does it raise? What hopes does it inspire?
Let’s change gears from talking about MicroChurch to experiencing MicroChurch. Let’s celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.
Let’s start with a few brief testimonies. Have a couple of people answer this question: “What does Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross mean to you?”
Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV):
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Keep in mind that the Lord’s Supper is for believers only. But anyone can become a believer right now. Anyone can turn from their sin and trust in Jesus and celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a declaration of their faith in Jesus.
As you pass out the bread and cups, say, “The body of Christ, given for you” and “The blood of Christ, shed for you.”
Ask someone to thank the Lord for His sacrifice on the cross and the forgiveness of our sins.
Then eat the bread and drink the cup.
See OUR MEAL AND HIS SUPPER for additional ideas on how to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Closing
How did God speak to you or how did you encounter God in our gathering?
Who will facilitate next time? (See FOR THE FACILITATORfor help in leading a gathering.)
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
Each week you are encouraged to share a meal together. See OUR MEAL AND HIS SUPPER.
PRINTABLE PDF
© 2023 The Way MicroChurches. All rights reserved.