"Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, preached to thousands, yet the whole of his 3 years of ministry focused on training just 12 men. They were ordinary men with ordinary jobs; not scholars, not clever, not more religious than others, not rich or influential. But through these 12 God changed the world. Jesus invested his time, his energy, his life in them. He also trained 72 others as helpers. Altogether, there were just 120 believers still meeting together after Jesus' death and resurrection. But on the Day of Pentecost the church exploded to 3000 members, and shortly afterwards, to 5000. The small core of believers left behind by Jesus were able to guide and care for this huge explosion in growth because they had been prepared by the Lord.
Taking principles modelled to us by Jesus, the Holy Spirit is renewing the church in our day, creating explosive growth, bringing many thousands of lost people into God's kingdom, saving them for all eternity. This movement is called Cell Church.
The Cell Church is a powerful, global movement of the Spirit of God. In denomination after denomination, and country after country, the Holy Spirit is bringing revival to the church, sweeping thousands of lost souls into the kingdom of God. By taking part in cell group ministry you too can play an important role in God's eternal purpose.
The modern Cell Church movement began in 1964 in Korea. Pastor David Yonggi Cho was unwell and unable to give adequate pastoral care to his already large church. God gave Pastor Cho a new vision that would enable him to provide good pastoral care to his flock and at the same time, reach out to unbelievers around them. The vision was home cell groups. Cho battled through early teething troubles and his church began to grow at an ever increasing rate through multiplication of cell groups. Through this strategy the Yoido Full Gospel Church became the largest in the world. Today this church has over 25,000 cell groups and hundreds of thousands of members! Others visited Korea, and today 19 of the world's 20 largest churches are Cell Churches.
Further notable examples include Faith Community Baptist Church, Singapore. Starting as a split of a traditional Baptist Church with 600 members in the mid 1980's, this church now has over 12,000 members. And the International Charismatic Mission (ICM) in Bogotá, Colombia, began with just 8 people meeting in the pastor's home in 1984. Pastor Castellanos visited Korea and created his own cell system. Today this church has over 20,000 cell groups.
In all these churches it is the equipping and mobilising of ordinary Christians to become leaders of home cell groups that has resulted in dynamic, explosive and sustained growth. Listen to these encouraging examples taken from Joel Comiskey's book, Groups of Twelve, based on his personal visits to ICM in Colombia:
"It's amazing how many common people at ICM are actually supervising others. Willie, who drove us around in the van, had 45 cell groups under his care. He hoped to be supervising 250 cells within a year. We talked to a young girl who cleaned the floor, who supervised four cell groups. The phone operator for ICM had 80 cell groups under her care. Another security guard had already formed his G-12 group [a group of 12 leaders each leading their own cell group] and was now seeking to form his group of 144."
Groups of Twelve, page 57.
(For more information on wider Cell Church topics see Joel Comiskey's website, http://joelcomiskeygroup.com, www.celluk.org.uk and www.touchusa.com).
The Bible says it is a noble thing to aspire to be a spiritual leader (1 Timothy 3:1). Jesus himself set the need clearly before us: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'" Matthew 9:36-38. The world needs a Saviour!
A Cell Leader is first of all, a shepherd of the sheep, a pastor. While this role is quite different from that of a paid ‘minister' leading a church, the responsibility to take care of the spiritual needs of a small group of people is the Cell Leader's main task.
Who should aspire to be a Cell Leader? Everyone! While many church members may feel inadequate for the task of leading others, it is our belief that every Christian is called to play a part in Christ's Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The Equipping Track has been designed for the very purpose of equipping ordinary Christians to serve Christ, including fulfilling the role of Cell Leader when a suitable level of spiritual maturity has been reached. Just as most people have the capability to become good parents, each church member has the potential to care for a few others, helping them to grow and leading them into God's purposes. The cell system provides the support that can make this a reality. Our part is to be willing to allow the Lord to prepare us and use us in his service. ‘Our competence comes from God' (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
What are the essential qualities necessary for someone to become a Cell Leader?
While the list could be long, the essentials are these:
Our church exists to accomplish the purposes of God. Both together and as individuals we aim:
Our dream is to build a church where everyone is welcomed and valued; where everyone can find a real relationship with God and the hope of eternal life; where everyone can find friendship, help and support amongst God's family. It is a church where everyone can find significance through serving others with their gifts; where we continually encourage each other to grow in Christ-like character; where we work together to share God's blessing and message with others.
We will accomplish our dream by basing our church on a network of small groups; by training and supporting ordinary people to become effective leaders; by equipping members for life and ministry through clear Bible teaching applied to daily life; by creating space for everyone to contribute to the kingdom; and by sending out trained leaders to start new groups and new churches!
The mission and goal of each cell group is to create new groups. This may be accomplished in one of two ways: Either the group grows large enough to divide in two (often called ‘multiplication'), or the group prepares and sends out a core team to start a new group (often called ‘cell planting'). This goal is supported by our policy of continually developing new leaders.
Living things consist of a multitude of systems working together in harmony. The church too is a living body – the body of Christ. When its various systems are working well and in harmony with one another, then the church is healthy and capable of achieving much good.
Our systems are designed to help us live and work together to achieve God's purposes. Our key cell group systems are summarised below, with more details in the modules that follow.
Our Systems are based upon these underlying principles:
Our cell group system forms the backbone of the ministry of our church. Cell groups provide the structure that enables us to put our Christian beliefs into practice; they enable us to actually live out the purposes to which God has called us.
A cell is a group of between 4 and 12 people who meet weekly, usually in members' homes. There is always a formal cell leader, and usually between 1 and 3 apprentice leaders in each group. A standard cell meeting uses the "4 W's format" (Welcome, Worship, Word, Witness/Works) and lasts about 1½ hours. Typically, it takes place on a mid-week evening. A cell group may hold other, non-standard meetings to provide variety in the regular pattern, e.g. a monthly social or outreach evening.
The cell leader takes overall responsibility for the group and its meetings, but active delegation for leading parts of meetings and other responsibilities is strongly encouraged. In particular, increasing responsibilities should be delegated to apprentice leaders as their competence develops.
The focus of the standard cell meeting is the application of God's word. We seek to understand it, to honestly share our own progress, and to encourage each other to keep going forward.
The other major focus is to continually remember the unchurched. We seek to pray for them, build relationships with them, serve them, invite them, and do whatever we can to bring them nearer to Christ.
Each group seeks to live out the 5 purposes, and works to achieve its mission – to start new groups.
It is part of our vision to equip all members for life and ministry. We believe this aspect of Christian life is so important that it must not be left to chance, so we have created a systematic basic training process, the Equipping Track. The Equipping Track comprises the following sections:
E1 Structure
E2 Introduction
E3 Finding Life (A Study in John's Gospel)
E4 Beginning with Christ
E5 Following Christ (Key Principles for Christian Living)
E6 Reaching Out
E7 Knowing Christ (Key Christian Beliefs)
E8 Leading a Cell Group
E9 Coaching Cell Group Leaders
The cell group is the context for administering the Equipping Track. The cell leader is the key administrator, making sure regular cell members get started on the Equipping Track and linking them with a suitable mentor. The cell leader must also monitor members' progress, and encourage them to keep going and not give up. Our desire is to help every member get as far as they can with the Equipping Track so they have the best chance of fulfilling their potential in Christ.
A key part of our vision is to equip, train and support ordinary people to become effective cell group leaders. Leadership training is handled differently from the rest of the Equipping Track. Once a member is ready to begin training as a leader, they will be invited by their current Cell Leader to become an Apprentice in their current group. On-the-job training begins right away, and consists of the Cell Leader delegating tasks and increasing responsibilities to the Apprentice, and involving the Apprentice in leadership decisions about the group.
When a number of new Apprentice Leaders have begun this informal training, church leaders will organise a formal Cell Leader Training Launch Event (say, a Saturday morning) to which current cell leaders and their new Apprentices are invited. This event will involve vision-casting by senior leaders, testimonies and question and answer sessions with current cell leaders, and training in the first leadership training modules.
Following the launch event the current Cell Leader will become the leadership mentor for all Apprentice Leaders in his/her group. As mentor, the Cell Leader will pass equipping modules to his/her trainees, ensure they have read and understood each module, and answer any questions etc.
Once all cell leader training modules have been completed, the Apprentice is ready for the final step, the Close Event. Similar to the Launch Event, the Close Event brings together present cell leaders and their apprentices, cell coaches and senior church leaders. The event includes final training, vision-casting, and time for each Apprentice to discuss with appropriate leaders options for putting the training into practice. The final act of the Close Event is commissioning the new cell leaders – committing them to God for the new work he has called them to.
Our leadership support system is based on each Cell Leader receiving support from their Cell Coach. In turn, each coach receives support from the senior leaders of the church. When an Apprentice Leader begins leading his/her own cell group, their former Cell Leader takes on the new role of Cell Coach for the new leader, thus maintaining the established relationship. A Cell Coach meets with all the Cell Leaders in his/her charge as a group once a month to provide encouragement, support and guidance. In addition, the Cell Leader can call upon his/her Cell Coach at anytime for any help and support needed.