The impact of small groups on evangelism: a case study of Nketa 8 Church in Nketa/Emganwini District, South Zimbabwe Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Abstract

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is evangelistic in nature. Its members believe that evangelism is the primary purpose for the Church’s existence. Small groups are one important vehicle that can be used to carry the good news of the gospel to the entire world making a people ready for the Second Coming of Jesus, the Savior. Nketa 8 Church in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, seems to be experiencing a problem in enlisting all the members in evangelism. The purpose of this study was to discover how members could best utilize small groups in evangelism in Nketa, a suburb of Bulawayo. The researcher compared the literature on small groups in order to develop a body of information on small groups. Participants were drawn from Nketa 8 church where the researcher sampled 150 members, including fifteen (15) elders and nine (9) section leaders who shall be referred to as zonal leaders. A total of forty-five (45) board members were also part of the sample. Small groups were formed, launched, trained and sent to study the Bible with members of the neighborhood. This was done on the 3rd of July 2016. An evangelistic effort was conducted from the 8th to the 21st of January 2017 mainly through these small groups that also were the respondents to the questionnaire. As compared to previous events where persons were only baptized when there was public evangelism, a total of forty-five (45) persons were baptized as a result of the small groups studying with people in their private homes.