I believe Joel’s post yesterday on cell multiplication was excellent. In essence, he suggested this definition of a cell: “A cell is a group of 3-15 people who meet weekly outside the church building for the purpose of evangelism, community– with the goal of making disciples that results in multiplication.” It’s a slight tweak from Joel’s previous definition of the cell. I like it. Read yesterday’s post if you happened to miss it.
Indeed, multiplication is quite a challenge for the majority of cell churches. I would like to offer three quick thoughts that can easily be overlooked as we seek to make disciples that results in multiplication.
Here are three necessary ingredients for a healthy cell multiplication to occur.
First, pray for your cell members to grow in Christ and for the Holy Spirit to place in their hearts a desire to lead a cell. My fellow JCG team members (Joel and Steve) tackled prayer in the cell last week in their posts and offered some outstanding thoughts, suggestions, strategies, and more. To be specific, wouldn’t it be great to know that God was the catalyst behind your cell multiplying? You, therefore, can relieve yourself of arm-twisting, spiritualizing, and/or manipulating others. Let God be God and allow Him to birth your future cell multiplication. Pray consistently with great anticipation of what God is going to do.
Next, love your cell members. Think of how Jesus loved his disciples. Have you ever considered that Jesus loved his disciples into the ministry? In other words, it was through the love of Christ that his disciples were invited to carry the gospel message to the world. Love was the motivation of Christ. It can be our motivation as well. Love you cell members in such a way that they trust God’s leading meshed with your desire for them to one day lead a cell.
Finally, “Passion will find a way.” JCG team member Steve Cordle said that to me two years ago as we were discussing cell multiplication. Here’s what that phrase means to me. When an individual is passionate about God and the vision of the church, then cell multiplication will happen. Steve has learned over the years that a passionate cell leader will find a way for cell multiplication to take place. He/she is able to prioritize his/her life call, being ever mindful of potential distractions and detours.
Needless to say, when people ask me: “How do you multiply the cells in your church?” I respond, “Through prayer, love, and passion.” By the way, I’ve tried to multiply cells in many other ways and made some silly mistakes and serious miscalculations.
One final thought: Don’t minimize the importance of multiplication. It’s vital.
Comments?
Rob