"The parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration. In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach...small communities are...a source of enrichment for the Church, raised up by the Spirit for evangelizing different areas and sectors...they bring a new evangelizing fervour and a new capacity for dialogue with the world whereby the Church is renewed." (Pope Francis, EG, #28-29)

The Parish is a communitiy of many small communities. A small Christian community (SCC) is a face-to-face gathering of roughly six to twelve people who invest time with one another for the common purpose of applying gospel values to every aspect of their lives. An SCC provides an atmosphere where participants generally come together weekly, to pray, share faith, accompany one another in living a Christian life, learn more about their faith and respond in action through works of charity and justice, just as we are called to do on the larger level of parish and church universal.  Meeting in smaller, more manageable-sized groups, gives participants a better opportunity to hear how the Spirit is working in each others' lives and to reflect together as to how God is calling them to respond individually and as a group.   
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