Children and Youth Cells

joel One pastor I’m coaching recently wrote, “We have no idea what to do with the children in the adult cell groups. Some of our adults have been including the children and teens in their lessons, however, this is taking away the teens from the program that is in place for them. childrenINcellsWhich leads into how can we make cell groups work for teens?”

His question is one that many pastors, leaders, and churches are asking. The following is the gist of the answer that I gave him:

If you’re referring to children in the cell, I think it’s great for young adolescents to lead children’s cells. This gives them something to do and prepares them to be disciples. My oldest daughter, Sarah (16), has led cells for years. My second born, Nicole (13), is leading a cell right now. My youngest, Chelsea (11), is the associate of Nicole’s cell. The cells that my daughters lead are connected with normal cell groups that have children present. Ideally, the parents can help prepare adolescent cell leaders with the cell lessons, thus, making discipleship a home-grown process.

I recommend that the children/adolescents stay with the adults for the ice-breaker and the worship time, and then they leave to do their own cell lesson. Normally, the kids will come back and share what they learned. Last night, for example, the children’s cell presented a paper chain they created with different names of sins they had confessed to each other during the cell group. The idea was to then to break the chain, signifying Christ breaking our bondage and freeing us from sin (they will get together today to actually break the paper chain).

The second part of the pastor’s question referred to youth cells. I told him, “I have quite a complete article on youth cells at http://www.joelcomiskeygroup.com/articles/churchLeaders/YouthCells.htm.”

If you’re reading this blog and are interested in youth cells, I’d encourage you also to read the above article.

Comments?

Joel

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