1. Mature Believers

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.”
Hebrews 5:12-6:1

Maturing in righteousness is a non-negotiable essential of the Christian walk. It is far too easy to settle with stunted, stalled growth. Instead, we must progress from being students to teachers. We must move from milk to meat. The chief end of small groups is to “go on to maturity” together. These groups spur one another on, asking, “How can I grow in godliness now and how does my godliness compare with where I was a year ago?”

2. Devoted, truth-speaking communities

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Hebrews 3:12-13

Every heart is susceptible to a grave disease: An evil, unbelieving heart can lead us to fall away from God (v12). However, God’s word gives a prescription: Exhorting communities (v13). These are communities of faith that are devoted enough to each other to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15-16). Small groups are designed to be these communities – groups of Christ-followers who regularly, urgently and attentively exhort one another that none of us “may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”