Remember the Goal
by Steve Cordle
There are many ministries to attend to in a healthy cell-based ministry: the equipping track, coaching leaders, writing material, outreach, etc. It can be easy to get unbalanced or preoccupied with minor issues unless we keep our goal in mind: a reproducing disciple.
What do you want a disciple to look like? How would you describe the fully-devoted follower? Once you have that answer, you can coordinate your minsitry to acheive that. If we forget this or if we are fuzzy in our description of the disicple, our ministry activity will become busier but less fruitful.
The cell leader who knows what he/she wants the disciples to look like can constantly evaulate what the activities of the cell against that picture, like a chef tasting the broth and deciding if more ingredients are needed. For example, the cell leader who wants the disicples to evangelize might recognize an inward attitude and take steps to refocus it. THe pastor who wants the members to be prayer-oriented will make sure that is being modeled in the cell, taught in the equipping track, and lifted up in the sermons.
How do you know when you havec a mature disciple? What marks tell you that?
What does your cell ministry do to help produce that?
Jim said,
May 9, 2008 @ 4:35 am
Steve,
To take off on the question you asked about spiritual maturity: For many years I fell into the trap of “how much and how many” to define Christian maturity. How long someone spent in prayer, how much they gave, how often they attended, how frequently they had a daily quiet time, etc.
I see it differently now. Maturity in a Christian is like natural maturity (and not all Old people are mature!)
Among other things, Mature Christians:
*Can feed themselves (with a diet of healthy, balanced spiritual food)
*Reproduce and grow the youngster to maturity (not just “winning the lost, but reproducing His life in them).
*Handle the stesses and dangers of life without exploding or imploading (they can resist temptation and endure suffering)
*Have a job based on their abilities (developed a ministry around their spiritual gifts)
*Understand the world does not revolve around them (they are focused on pleasing God out of love rather than themselves or others)
It seems like the last of these is especially important since “Loving God and neighbor” was the way that Jesus defined the essence of spirituality.
Just one more thought - spiritual maturity and emotional maturity seem to be linked together. Some of the above abilities require God “growing us up.” I find this to be a constant challenge in a culture that promotes narcissism at every turn and rejects boundries and values that help people move toward maturity.
Jim+
Iain said,
May 9, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
I remember when people started talking about EQ - Emotional Intelligence (as opposed to IQ - reasoning intelligence). Well I’d like to coin a new term, SQ - Spiritual Intelligence. Like Jim said, it’s not just what you know, emotional maturity is involved. To have good spiritual intelligence the believer needs to be reprogrammed. This occurs INSIDE. So it’s not what you see on the outside of the disciple which is important. It’s WHY they are doing it. Everyone can fake it….