The other night, we had 28 people in a living room, and we're just wondering how others have dealt with this "problem" in the past. Growth in numbers is a good "problem" to have, of course. But we don't want to lose the closeness that comes from being a small group.

So I'm interested in hearing ideas for dealing with growth in numbers without losing the intimacy of a small group. Are there creative ways to avoid buying or renting a building?

Here are some of the ideas I've thought about, which have their own sets of problems:

• Holding meetings and studies in a neighborhood rest home that has a larger meeting hall.

  This still gives up the intimacy of a home setting, but adds the benefit of including community outreach into every meeting.

• Splitting into smaller groups that continue to meet in neighborhood homes.

  This has the benefit of retaining the intimate home fellowship, but the added problem of figuring out the logistics of how to split without causing hurt feelings of any sort. It also makes it hard when you want to get together as one big group, because no single home is large enough for it.

• Renting or buying a building, but arranging it with couches or other "home" furniture and no pews.

  This may seem completely weird to some, but I've actually considered it. I suspect that this arrangement would still start taking on the problems of larger, less intimate groups, though.