Welcome to today's episode of Apostolic Life in the 21st Century.

We thank you for taking your time out to tune into this broadcast.

We believe this is going to be beneficial to you.

Today we're talking about this topic of small group ministry.

We're going to get Dr. David K. Bernard's input on this

growing, this ministry that's growing in importance.

We're going to hear what he has to say about that today.

So thank you for listening.

Dr. Bernard, one of the big changes that has happened during my lifetime

has been the rise of small groups.

And I know small groups have been around for a long time. They probably well predate my

arrival on the scene. But it seems like they really have grown in popularity. And many

apostolic churches have picked this up as a model of ministry. Let me start by asking you on what

I think is probably the most important question. and that is, is small group ministry biblical?

The short answer is yes. And by the way, the Pentecostal Resources Group, Pentecostal publishing house,

has just come out with two good books on small groups, one by the editor-in-chief, Robin Johnston, and the other by the associate editor-in-chief,

Lee-Anne Alexander. So I would certainly recommend both of those resources for the theology,

the concept, the practical application, various models, and also interviews with various

ministers whose churches are doing this.

So going back to your main question, is it biblical? Well, absolutely yes. So if we go back

historically in the beginning, in the New Testament church and for two or three centuries,

there were no physical church buildings. So what we think of as going to church,

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