Editor’s note: During the Synod of Bishops, several church leaders have referred to a new model of church that includes small Christian communities — groupings of families that meet to pray, study Scripture, discuss needs and problems of group members, and make decisions about action that needs to be taken. Read more about how they work below.

NAIROBI, Kenya — In Africa, groups known as small Christian communities are thriving.

Each Saturday morning at 7:30, about 21 Catholics meet at a home in Sacred Heart Nguluni Parish in the Machakos Diocese, southeast of Nairobi.

Florence Kamene, 47, is part of the group, whose members range in age from 30 to 80. They form the small Christian community known as St. Anastasia.

“We chose this time because many of us are not at work on this day,” Kamene said. “We also decided to be meeting early in the morning so that people can attend to other activities.”

She said the group was formed “to help and encourage each other to grow in faith. We know each in the community, and we try to bring everyone who is a Catholic to the meetings. We rotate the venues, such that if we meet in my house this Saturday, we will meet in the next member’s the coming Saturday. In the meetings, we pray, sing and recite the rosary.”

“We read the Gospel and discuss how that is going to help us,” Kamene added. “Then we pick an activity around the topic of the discussion. For example, if it is about helping the needy, we find a needy person or child and offer our support.”

 Small Christian communities are part of the ecclesial structure of the Catholic Church in Eastern Africa. They bring together neighbors, who not only pray but support each other in small ways. 

“I think these communities are very important in the church,” Kamene said. “They bring us together, help us grow spiritually and give us an avenue to unite and support each other as Catholics.”

 “We visit each other to pray when one is sick or bereaved,” she added. “If a member has a wedding, we take roles as ushers and prepare (beautify) the church for that special day.”

Sometimes a priest visits, but the small Christian community meetings are in addition to the members attending Mass.

Blaise Peterlish Okinyi Akite, 52, is a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Nairobi. His small Christian community of St. Paul has 40 members, but he said only 20 are active.

The community is a source of “spiritual growth and nourishment,” he explained. “We meet every Sunday after the second Mass, between 1 and 2 p.m. At the meeting, we read the Word and pray together. We also take time to discuss the reading of that day.”

 “One Sunday, meetings can be organized in my house, and all members would come. From there we would pray together, encourage each other and carry out all the activities related to the small Christian community,” he added. “When they come to my house, I feel encouraged, a sense of acceptance, and I feel that there is a general concern by the members.”

He said had lived with his now-wife for 15 years, but members of the small Christian community encouraged him to solemnize the marriage.

“Sometimes, when I feel that I am getting weak regarding the participation in the church, I draw encouragement from this group. The members come to encourage and inspire me. Many also call to check on me. The small Christian community helps a lot,” he said.

More than 6,000 miles away, across the Atlantic, Pamela Rojas is a member of a small Christian community in Lambaré, Paraguay. In Latin America, such communities are known as basic ecclesial communities, or CEBs for their Spanish acronym comunidades eclesiales de base. Often, they are found in the poorest areas.

Rojas said she was excited about a meeting of young CEB members in July. They met in a rural area and in a city. About 40 people were at each encounter.

“We listened to their testimonies, their clamor, their expectations for four days,” Rojas said. They discussed faith and politics, ecclesiology, drug addiction and environmental contamination, she said. Afterward, ministries were formed to help address the problems.

 Listening, which with prayer and action is a key component of a CEB, brings together personal and community issues, Rojas said.

“When a person is giving his or her testimony, his or her journey following God, it’s easy to recognize its relations with community life,” Rojas said.

 “It was like going back to the center of my own faith,” she said of the experience. “In our world, everything is fast. We even speed up the audio messages we receive in our cellphones. We’re working to calm down our spirits, our hearts, and really listen to each other.”

Contributing to this story was Eduardo Campos Lima in São Paulo.