JCG NEWS

JCG April 2007 Newsletter: Persevere to Victory

• On April 30-May 05 I teach the Developing Effective Cell Ministry course at Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, New York. It’s not too late for your to sign up! This is an official course of Alliance Theological Seminary, but you can audit the entire course for $300.00. If you’re interested, contact: heather.rosenberg@nyack.edu , jennifer.balk@nyack.edu and/or melinda.kong@nyack.edu. The week following (May 05-09) I will do a cell seminar in York, PA at York Alliance Church. Contact person: David King at ycma@aol.com or Nancy Sterner at nsterner@yorkalliance.org
• In September 2007, I will publish two books that will make up the Advanced Training of the equipping track. Coach will help a cell leader coach another cell leader and Discover will offer clear instructions on how cell members can discover and use their spiritual gifts.
  

• Have you checked out the new JCG blog yet? We blog daily and you can sign up to receive these blogs directly to your email inbox for free. Simply place your email in the top right box on blog site and follow the instructions.
• Check out our five-book equipping track. You can order it for $39.95 (retail-$49.95) or each individual book for $8.95 (retail-$9.95). Order now. You can also get the CD with PowerPoint and Teaching notes for $14.95 (retail-$17.95).
• The JCG website is full of free, useful articles that will help you be more fruitful in cell ministry. Check out the bookstore where you’ll find important resources to guide you in cell life. Tell someone about it.
• Find out more about how you can contribute to CCS, a non-profit ministry.

Good Friday ushers in resurrection Sunday. Jesus suffered the agony of the cross for the joy that was set before Him—the salvation of you and me (Hebrews 12:2). The writer of Hebrews uses Christ’s example of perseverance under suffering to encourage us to press on through sufferings and discipline.

Cell ministry is also loaded with tests and difficulties—and even failures. Victories also abound. But we’ll never reach the victories unless we are willing to learn through the trials and failures.

David Cho, the father of the modern day cell church movement, once said that you have to fail at least three times in attempting to do cell church ministry to get it right. Cho’s word strike an important chord with all of us who have attempted to transition to the cell model or plant a cell church–or even lead a cell group!

Rather than allowing failure to dominate us and sap our strength, we must learn from our mistakes and keep moving forward.

Sadly, so many give up. I was in a church recently that tried to transition to cell church ministry by copying another model. They failed badly. Many were hurt. When I graciously pointed out why they failed, the pastor acknowledged my words, but simply did not want to try again.

The fact is that we will all fail as we move forward in cell ministry. You will have to fine-tune, perfect, and discover better ways to make cell ministry work in your context. There are no magical formulas. The key is diligently pressing on in the face of obstacles. Fail forward, not backwards. Remember that failure is the back door to success.

I’ve had the excellent book, Boundaries (over 1 million copies sold), on my bookshelf for several years and never read it. About a week and a half ago I picked it up, read it, and loved it! One thing that stood out was that God wants to us to keep on moving forward. Cloud and Townsend say:

Passivity never pays off. God will match our effort, but he will never do our work for us. That would be an invasion of our boundaries. He wants us to be assertive and active, seeking and knocking on the door of life. . . the “wicked and lazy” servant was passive. He did not try. God’s grace covers failure, but it cannot make up for passivity. We have to do our part. The sin God rebukes is not trying and failing, but failing to try. Trying, failing, and trying again is called learning. Failing to try will have no good result; evil will triumph. God expresses his opinion toward passivity in Hebrews 10:38-39: “‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’ . . . Passive shrinking back is intolerable to God, and when we understand how destructive it is to the soul, we can see why God does not tolerate it (pp. 99-100)

Abraham Lincoln is such a great example of pressing on in the face of defeat.

• In 1832, he lost the election to become senator.
• In 1833, his personal business failed.
• In 1835, his wife died.
• In 1836, he had a nervous break-down.

• In 1838, he was defeated in his race for the House of Representatives
• In 1843, he lost the election to Congress.
• In 1848, he lost the congressional election for the second time.
• In 1849, his application to the registry office was denied.
• In 1854, he was defeated in the election to become a U.S. senator for the third time.
• In 1856, he lost the election for vice-president of the U.S.
• In 1858, he once again lost a key congressional election.
• In 1860. after 28 years of failure, he won the U.S. presidency.

Abe Lincoln wasn’t deterred by his failures. He allowed his failures to create in him strength of character and the fortitude to press on. He remained diligent in the face of obstacles and difficulties. So can you.

I’ve noticed the tendency in some churches to not stick with the cell church vision long enough to see it work. When dry times occur, they quickly move on to new techniques. Instead of failing forward, these churches blame the cell model and abandon it for a new program.

Press on in cell ministry. Victory is in sight! Remember Paul’s words, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). It might look like Friday, but Sunday’s coming!