The bedrock of these communities is the family. Married couples host, organize and lead their groups – which never have more than about 20 members. Other people drift in and out; some only really turn up when there’s a celebration and a meal. But it’s the couples who provide the core stability of the group.

With more than 2,000 SCCs in the Dar es Salaam archdiocese, a key factor has been the personal commitment and leadership of Cardinal Polycarp Pengo and auxiliary Bishop Method Kilaini. These SCCs are part of the wider Eastern Africa experience where AMECEA (the Catholic bishops of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) stated in 1976: “Systematic formation of small Christian communities should be the key pastoral priority in the years to come.” One of the founders, Bishop Christopher Mwoleka of Rulenge diocese in Tanzania, described an SCC as a “community with a human face where the faith is caught rather than taught” and insisted that the entire diocesan pastoral plan be carried out by SCCs. Today most of the 40,000 SCCs in Eastern Africa are a “pastoral model” for inculturation, evangelization and the development of lay ministries within parish structures. They are at the heart of the African Church.

Lay leaders come from within them and drive policy outwards and upwards through out the entire African Church. While some priests and bishops resist this phenomenon, the majority welcome it and understand that, with parishes covering such huge geographical areas, these communities are by far the most efficient way to ensure the survival of Catholic faith and teaching.

Most Africans – clergy and laity – are conservative by nature. They have no wish to question Rome, and so tend by and large to accept and comply with Catholic doctrine. Could such a radical restructuring ever work in the West? The spiritual energy induced by programmes such as “At Your Word, Lord” and “Cafe” run the risk of petering out once the sessions have finished, and in cities especially the rate of turnover in any given group is high. The urban understanding of community is also quite different from that of the rural villages. Many people deliberately leave small communities in order to live with some degree of anonymity in the city, yet the need for community never quite goes away.

A key is to make parish-based SCCs a normal way of pastoral and spiritual life. In September, 2003 I visited England during the opening days of the “At Your Word, Lord” renewal process taking place in the Westminster diocese. I’m sure I surprised some pastors (and parishioners alike) when I said that in Tanzania we find it “easy” to preach on Sunday if we use the SCC process. That is, during the week the priest participates in various SCC meetings in his parish that reflect on the gospel of the following Sunday. Then the Sunday parish liturgy becomes a “communion of the SCCs” with his homily reflecting back the experiences, insights and applications that he learned from the Bible reflections that took place in the individual SCC meetings.

The two main reasons that Catholics join SCCs are that they are looking for more religious nurture than the parish is providing and a hunger for community with relational depth. In the United States, parishes are encouraged to be renewed as a “community of many small communities” and to see SCCs as a “way of being parish” rather then a short-term programme. Research conducted by Fr. Bernard Lee of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, in 2003 indicates that there are 45,000 to 50,000 SCCs in the United States with an estimated 1 million members. In most communities the time is spent with scripture, especially making those magical connections with members’ own lived experience.

Model parishes of SCCs have grown in different ways. Presentation Parish in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, has 75 active SCCs as well as ministerial communities such as the Catechumenate Team and the Peace and Justice Ministry. New seasonal groups are formed each Lent and at other times of the year. St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis, Indiana, started with small church communities in 1988 and now has 37 SCCs in varying stages of development and maturity.

In Eastern Africa we have learned that it is essential to provide a steady supply of faith- sharing resources and “How to Do It” booklets for SCCs. These rich materials, which come in print form, on the internet and on video, are produced by a wide variety of groups including Renew International, Buena Vistas, Twenty-Third Publications, Good Ground Press and New Way of Being Church (based in England). Particularly valuable for us is Quest, a Sunday scripture-based resource for small communities. We also find that parish and diocesan newsletters can promote SCCs and encourage networking.

There are still problems along the way. Africans living in remote areas have little or no education. Reaching out beyond their own community to the problems and issues of the wider world and the global Church is something they find hard; this challenge to social action is always a weak area that we try to work on. Nevertheless, the fact is that the members in St. Charles Lwanga SCC in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, gather enthusiastically for the weekly meeting where members – mainly adults – report on their families’ health and problems in the neighborhood. They reflect on one of the Sunday scripture readings and they plan specific acts of charity in their area. The meeting incorporates prayer offerings and lively singing so that for these 15 people the maxim “We are the Church” is not just a slogan, but a way of life that truly applies to them. The challenge is to make that same transition in the West.