We live in a world that is broken by sin, where the only permanent thing is change. The cause of man’s sin was that the koinonia relationship between man and God had been severed. After Adam and Eve feel into sin, a spiritual darkness in the history of man began. Man was unable to rebuild the communication and relationship that he had with God. God came through the calling of Abram (Abraham) to restore some of the koinonia relationship we need. In the New Testament, Jesus came and restored the way to God, but something is still missing. This koinonia relationship will only be totally fulfilled when Jesus comes again to take us home. God’s instrument to experience true koinonia is the church. The koinonia that was lost and restored in Jesus. The church of today has lost some of the koinonia that the first church experienced, by becoming program orientated. The church is at this moment in a transformation process, where it is rediscovering the importance of being a mission-minded balanced loving community that is experiencing koinonia in relationships. The small group is thé vehicle that could help the church rediscover the koinonia, which people and the world need. This will only become true when we have a broader insight of the small group ministry in a local missionary-minded community (congregation). The small groups ministry is not a tool to use. You start a small group ministry in your local congregation because this is the way you were created. To truly understand the local church and the way we were created, we need to look back. We need to look back to creation, and how God created us, and to remind us of the Triune God’s, Father, Son and Spirit’s functioning in community. Only when the church realizes again that we are created in God’s image, will we look at our mission responsibilities and not-yet-believers in a new way. Namely, God’s way. / Thesis (DD (Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted