Month: June 2007

 

By Steve Cordle

Group leaders are developed in many ways: through on the job training, classes, one-on-one interaction, large rallies. One avenue that is not spoken of as much is failure and brokenness.

We all know that group leadership can be difficult, and not every group will succeed. When a group dissolves, it is a critical moment in the life of the leader. The feelings of failure may drive the leader to vow not to lead again. He may take upon himself responsibility for the failure which doesn not belong to him. Or, he may see personal factors which legitimately hurt the group. Now what?

Most of God’s best servants have been broken in significant ways. As we coach leaders who have groups which don’t continue, it is important to help them mine the deepest nuggets of God’s work. The Holy Spirit may be preparing them in soul-level ways for even greater mnistry influence later. Group leading develops us as disciples in ways which don’t happen otherwise – and brokenness is one. Few of us sign up for the pain and discomfort of brokenness, but it seems to be an essential part of God’s training us in righteousness and dependancy. Helping our leaders to see this requires tender and personal interaction, but it will develop strong disciples and leaders.

 

 

On Monday we looked at various factors that had nothing to do with whether the leader could multiply his or her cell group. We looked at the leader’s gender, social class, age, marital (civil) status, and education.

What we didn’t look at was the leader’s personality type. I remember when I first preparing my questionnaire in 1996 at Fuller Seminary. I leaned heavily on the the Pyschology department to help design the questions on personality types–just to make sure the answers wouldn’t be skewed by biased laden questions.

After examining the results of the survey, it was clear that personality type didn’t influence whether or not the leader could multiply his or her cell. That is, being extroverted is not an advantage for multiplying a cell group. Jim Egli later took an expanded version of my questionnaire to 200 cell leaders at Bethany World Prayer Center. He wrote, “This initial research seems to show no strong correlation between DISC personality types and cell growth. 98 percent of Bethany’s leaders had taken the DISC test and knew what their primary and secondary traits were, but no particular type performed better.”

Some group members believe that they have to have a personality that WOWS people, but this is simply not the case. Those who are shy and timid can be equally effective at leading and multiplying cell groups.

Another aspect is spiritual gifting. The survey revealed absolutely no connection between the cell leader’s spiritual giftedness and success in cell multiplication. Surprisingly, 25 percent claimed teaching—not evangelism or leadership—as their primary gift. Yet no one particular gift correlated with a leader’s capacity to multiply his or her group. This was a very interesting finding because David Cho, senior pastor of the largest church in the history of Christianity, has taught that only those cell leaders with the gift of evangelism can multiply cell groups.

It’s not wise to pinpoint one personality type or spiritual gift-mix of effective cell leaders. I believe that anyone can lead and multiply a cell group. This doesn’t mean that everyone WILL do it, but anyone CAN do it.

Whether a person is male or female, educated or uneducated, married or single, shy or outgoing, a teacher or an evangelist, he or she can effectively lead a cell group. These statistics reveal that gender, age, marital status, personality, and gifting have little to do with effectiveness as a cell leader.

Comments?

Joel
P.S.: If you’re interested in seeing the 29-question handout that was given to 700 cell leaders (as well as the general summaries), click here. If you’d like to see all the statistical details,click here

In yesterday’s post, Joel wrote about finding cell leaders who are F.A.T. (Faithful, Available, Teachable).  Let me take this line of thought one more step and encourage you to look for cell leaders who are F.A.S.T.  (Faithful, Available, SUBMISSIVE, Teachable).  As Christ followers, we are taught to “submit to one another.”

Indeed, submission is one of the most misunderstood and mishandled concepts in the church today.  Let’s first discuss what submission is not.  Submission does not mean that an individual loses his/her identity and becomes a non-person.  Submission does not mean blind obedience.  Submission does not mean that a violation of the law or abuse is tolerated.

So, what is submission?  Literally, submission means “to yield oneself to some power or authority; give up, surrender.”  In terms of cell life, it means diverting one’s independent will insistent on “flying solo,” and choosing to live interdependently in the context of a believing community.  Have you noticed that when the scriptures speak of submission, the command is articulated in the context of relationships?   You will also note that the command is reciprocal (mutual submission).   Future, please understand that submission is not simply a course of action, but an attitude one possesses when filled with the Holy Spirit.

Submission is also different than obedience.  Obedience is doing what you are told.  A friend once said to me, “Any old bird dog can be obedient.”  I reckon he’s right with proper training and the desire to obey his master.  Submission, however, is anticipating what is wanted or needed and doing it before being told.  This is the underlying attitude of a submissive cell pastor or leader:  “One continual goal in my life is to make others successful in the eyes of God.”

Authors Harold and Bette Gillogly write, “Submission simply means to defer or yield to the wishes of another.  There’s no thought in it of one person being better or smarter than another.  It is, rather, a non-rebellious attitude of life.  Day-by-day living with nothing to prove.  We don’t have to make sure we get what’s coming to us.  We don’t have to make sure other people treat us the way we deserve to be treated….It’s learning to walk in the steps of Jesus.  It’s letting God the Father make us like His Son as we submit to Him and to one another with the heart of a servant.” 

May I underscore one thing from the ideas presented to you above?  One who is submissive is also a servant.  They go hand in hand, don’t they?

A closing word of caution to cell pastors and cell leaders.  If you are using Ephesians 5:21 as a whip to keep others in line, you are causing great damage to your cell and church family.  The Word of God should never be used in such a way.

Meditate today on the beautiful interplay of submission that we see in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Comments?

In last week’s blog, we talked about multiplication goals, but this is just one aspect of multiplication. The thrilling part of my study on cell group multiplication was the factores that had nothing to do with multiplication. I prepared a 29-questions handout, and at the very end there were three questions about whether the leader had multiplied his or her group. The other 27-questions had to do with a number of factors, such as personality, devotional life, etc.

If you’re interested in seeing the 29 question handout that was given to 700 cell leaders (as well as the general summaries), click here. If you’d like to see all the statistical details,click here.

The most satistfying part of the study was discovering those factors that had nothing to do with cell multiplication. For example, the leader’s gender, social class, age, marital status, or education had nothing to do with whether the leader could multiply a cell group.

Take education. There is no correlation between the amount of education a cell leader has and the ability to multiply a cell group. Actually, the statistics seemed to indicate that less-educated cell leaders multiply more consistently and more often! Do you tend to look for the better educated to lead cell groups? Think again. Perhaps your most fruitful future cell leaders will have very little education.

Of the 700 cell leaders in the study, 51 percent are women and 49 percent men. The data reveals absolutely no difference between leadership effectiveness and gender. Both show equal success when asked how many times the group multiplied.

The average age of cell leaders in the study was 33, but no age bracket claims the leading edge with regard to cell multiplication. No significant pattern emerged as far as marital status, either.

What about occupation? White-collared cell leaders, blue-collared cell leaders, professionals, and teachers were equally capable of multiplying cell groups.

The good news is that the anointing for cell multiplication doesn’t reside with just a few. God receives the most glory through weak people. It’s not wise to look for the “leader type” to facilitate the cell group. It’s best to look for those who are FAT (faithful, available, teachable).

Comments?

Joel

I’ve had the privilege of multiplying my own cell here in Moreno Valley on several occasions. Each multiplication has had its accompanying pain and joy–a lot like a mother giving birth to a baby (I like to say that I sufffered more through child bearing than my wife, but she just chuckles at that suggestion. . . ).

I shared in a blog a few weeks ago that multiplication has been more difficult in my current cell group. One of the reasons is that I didn’t share the goal of multiplication upfront to those entering the group. Now I’m needing to backtrack and clarify the purpose of multiplication to the group. As I was wrestling on how to do this, the Lord showed me the concept of group covenants.

Small group covenants are not new. Many small groups use them. The word covenant is just another term that really means commitment. Thus, a small group covenant is a commitment that the group makes. A normal group covenant might include some or all of the following components:

• agreement to show up on time
• agreement to be there each week
• agreement for to participate in the cell discussion
• agreement to host the cell in different homes
• agreement to lead different parts of the cell meeting
• agreement to reach out to friends and neighbors
• agreement to eventually multiply

I’ve never used a group covenant before. Nor have I taught people to use one. Yet, a group covenant would fit perfectly in my current circumstances. Why? Because the members of my cell have come into the group at different times and not everyone is on the same page. Using a group covenant will refresh some group members of principles they already know about. Others will hear of these principles for the first time. Everyone will understand the goal of multiplication.

I will first set forth the components of the covenant in the next few weeks, give the group a chance to think about it, and then we’ll come to agreement on it. As the group leader, I need to lead in such a winsome way that the group takes ownership for the covenant, rather than just telling them what to do. .

What are your thoughts on group covenants that include multiplication?

Joel