(RNS) If I could wish one thing for today’s churches, it wouldn’t be further perfecting of Sunday worship. We already spend more than half of our resources providing one hour of worship to the 31 percent of shrinking flocks who attend on a Sunday. We miss entirely the vast majority of our neighbors who ignore Sunday church but still want a relationship with God.

Nor would my wish be for further perfecting of doctrine, which has already splintered us into more than 300 denominations and countless stand-alone entities and rendered us incapable of working alongside other Christians.

No, my wish would be for a dynamic and broadly subscribed small-group program in each congregation — a handful of groups in a small congregation, and dozens and hundreds of them in larger congregations.

Small groups aren’t a new idea. In fact, they are probably what Jesus intended to launch — circles of friends, bound in love, prayer and table fellowship — rather than an institution grounded in hierarchies of power, bricks and mortar, and global claims of sovereignty.

Small groups take many forms, such as task forces, social groups, study groups and mission crews. Some share common interests, others intentionally seek diversity. Effective groups tend to average eight to 12 at a gathering, but many are smaller or larger. They meet on diverse schedules, often in homes, but also in coffee shops and church parlors.

The absence of a cookie-cutter model is a clue as to why small groups work. They grow out of human yearnings, not institutional imperatives. They are inherently beyond control.

When I visit congregations, I see a palpable yearning for community, informal fellowship and knowing at least a few other people well. Lack of such intimacy tends to undermine the rest of what the leadership team tries to do.

Small groups cost little to launch and sustain. And yet, as we should glean from the fact that Jesus intended them, small groups can have a far-reaching, even radical impact on a congregation. Here are a few reasons why:

— They call for a higher commitment than occasional participation in Sunday worship.

— They respond to people’s yearnings, rather than the hierarchy’s desire for order.

— They require participants to engage with other people at a deeper and more disconcerting level than sitting in the Sunday pew.

— Groups compel us to grapple with people not like ourselves, the true test of “love thy neighbor.”

— They change the locus of power away from longtime members who control Sunday operations and toward friendships based on intimacy and trust.

— They tend to become primary providers of pastoral care, exponentially expanding the amount of care offered to constituents.

— They invite us to express our needs, questions and worries, rather than waiting passively for them to be noticed.

— Small groups enable us to apply faith to daily life, as opposed to institutional issues.

— And they bring us face to face with a God who is intimate and connected to us.

To clergy and lay leaders who demand control over church life, small groups can be threatening. To constituents who resist that control by staying away on Sunday, small groups provide a way into a faith community.

Not every member will want to belong to a small group. Nevertheless, if a congregation wants to have a future, it needs to facilitate community and the disorder that happens when people love each other.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)