new church life: jan uary/february 2016
other individuals and ourselves. Rather, it means that the good of the larger
group provides the motivation for caring for the smaller units. We first take
care of ourselves so that we can help other individuals. We help individuals
so that they can serve the groups they belong to. We meet the needs of smaller
groups so that they can benefit the larger group, and so on. (See New Jerusalem
97-99, True Christianity 412-416).
Small Groups in the Spiritual World
Swedenborg spoke with hundreds of thousands of people in the spiritual
world, sometimes in large groups, sometimes in small groups or individually.
The work Married Love begins with a description of an assembly of people who
gathered to talk about what heaven is like. The assembly broke into six small
groups, with each group sitting in a circle so they could talk about heaven face
to face. Afterwards each small group went through an experiential process
to discover what their imagined heaven would really be like. Finally, a small
group of 10 people chosen from the larger group were invited on a three-day
tour of heaven. (Married Love 2-26)
A similar assembly gathered to talk about conscience. They were divided
into smaller groups based on their worldly occupations, though after
their discussions the groups recombined based on their attitudes towards
conscience. (True Christianity 665-666) Another assembly discussing the
origin of marriage love divided into small groups based on their national
origin. (Married Love 103-114) Swedenborg visited a small group of three
angel couples who lived together in a common home (Married Love 155r, 208),
and another similar group of couples from the Golden Age. (Married Love 75)
These experiences illustrate a universal pattern in heaven, which is one
community like one person made up of many organs and members, each of
which is in turn made up of smaller communities . (Secrets of Heaven 7836)
Small Group Beginnings
The first New Church gatherings were small groups that met to discuss the
books of the Writings. One of the first New Church congregations (nominally
Anglican) was led by John Clowes, who formed many small societies in and
around Manchester. These small study groups were the primary way for the
church to grow at that time.
After Clowes’ death many of these societies became New Church
congregations, and as a result the New Church is strong around Manchester
to this day. The first formally New Church congregation was led by Robert
Hindmarsh, who started with a small group of just four people.
Many small New Church groups grew into larger congregations, and
many of them remained as small groups for long periods of time, or gave birth
38