Month: June 2008

by Mario Vega

In our second year working with small groups in houses, we had already structured leaders within their sectors with their respective supervisors. These supervisors responded to zone pastors, as well.

In a meeting with pastors, one of them mentioned that Roxana was responsible of a cell. She was well known and appreciated upon the church for being a very devout sister, exemplary and of good manners. But there was a problem with Roxana, she was only twelve years old!

When the pastor mentioned that she was a cell leader I was shocked. I immediately told the zone pastor that it couldn’t be possible to have a twelve years old girl in charge of an adults cell. I argued that adults were not going to take her seriously, that she wouldn’t be able to give advise to a couple that was facing marital problems.

That zone pastor patiently heard me, understanding my shock. At the end he just said, -You should listen to her-

I thought it was a wise recommendation. At the very first opportunity I went to listen to little Roxana at her cell. The house was full of grownups. In order not to disturb Roxana, I stayed outside the house and heard how she directed the cell. The more I listened the more I was amazed by what God did through her. At the end of the meeting I was excited. I was very happy with Roxana’s performance.

In the years that followed she continued being an outstanding leader. Then she became a supervisor and, very young, became a deaconess of the church. She always stood out for her maturity and love for the cause of Christ.

Since that moment we understood that age is not an insurmountable obstacle to become a leader. Since then, the age requirement to be a leader in Elim was: a responsible age.
Comments?

Mario

Translation in Spanish:

LA PEQUEÑA ROXANA

En nuestro segundo año de trabajo con pequeños grupos en casas, tenamos ya estructurados los lderes dentro de sectores con sus respectivos supervisores. Estos supervisores, a su vez, respondan a los pastores de zona.

En una reunión con los pastores, uno de ellos mencionó que la encargada de una célula era Roxana. Ella era muy conocida y apreciada por la iglesia ya que era una hermana muy devota, ejemplar y de buenos modales. Pero el problema con Roxana era que ¡Solamente tena doce años!

Cuando el pastor mencionó que ella era la lder de una célula me sobresalté. Inmediatamente le dije al pastor de zona que no era posible que una niña de doce años estuviera al frente de una célula de personas adultas. Le argumenté que los adultos no la tomaran en serio, que ella no podra dar recomendaciones a una pareja que estuviera afrontando problemas conyugales.

Aquel pastor de zona me escuchó pacientemente, como comprendiendo mi sobresalto. Al final solamente me dijo: -Debera escucharla-

Su recomendación me pareció sensata. En la primera oportunidad fui a escuchar a la pequeña Roxana en su célula. La casa estaba llena de personas adultas. Me quedé fuera de la casa para no perturbar a Roxana y escuchar la manera en que diriga la célula. Mientras más la escuchaba más me sorprenda de lo que Dios haca a través de ella. Al final de la reunión estaba entusiasmado. Muy contento con el desempeño de Roxana.

En los años que siguieron ella continuó siendo una lder sobresaliente. Luego se convirtió en supervisora y, muy joven, llegó a ser una diaconisa de la iglesia. Ella siempre sobresalió por su madurez y amor por la causa de Cristo.

A partir de ese momento entendimos que la edad no es un obstáculo infranqueable para ser un lder. Desde entonces, el requisito de edad para ser lder en Elim fue: edad responsable.

 

 

 

by Steve Cordle

 

A seminar speaker I heard recently (sorry I can’t remember the teacher’s name!) said “What is not intentional is not reproducable”. In other words, if you don’t know what you did, you probably can’t do it again.

As Joel says, the goal of a cell group is to multiply (reproduce). That means it must be intentional; a group leader should be able to describe how the group works and ministers. One of the enemies of this is complication. We leader-types often who have been doing cell minsitry a long time can be tempted to make ministry a little too complicated. We want everyone to know everything we do.

You might be too complicated if:

– your training manual is 500 pages long

– your Equipping Track qualifies for state higher education funding

– your group leaders have trouble memorizing the 212 keys to effective cell meetings

– your weekly report forms can be used as door stops.

Well, you get the idea!

When cell ministry is simple – leaders understand the basic principles and variety flourishes. When it gets complicated, the leaders still only remember a few things; it’s just that those might not be the most important things!

Is your ministry simple enough to be reproducable?

 

 

by Rob Campbell

www.cypresscreekchurch.com

 

First, thanks to Jeff Tunnell for filling in for me the last two weeks.  I was visiting a few cell churches in Skopje, Macedonia and Thessaloniki, Greece.  I was very encouraged by what God is doing in and through these churches.  If you are interested in a good contact in that region of the world, then please let me know.

Next, if you didn’t read Joel’s post yesterday, then please check it out.  This blog will make more sense.

Hats off to Jeff French and Resurgent Church (Neunan, Georgia) whom Joel highlighted yesterday in his post.  Jeff is taking the gospel to the streets, outside of the box, and employing superior creativity keeping his pilot cell connected outside of the gathering.

Here’s the point of this post:  What’s working for you?  By this question I mean– How are you and your cell/church getting outside the walls of the church and building relationships with not-yet believers?  Further, what one “tweak” or innovation has worked well in the context of keeping the cell members connected throughout the week?  In essence, post a quick comment that might benefit others.  You see, Jeff French’s ingenuity encourages me.  Now, why don’t you take a moment to encourage others?

My hunch is that if some of you shared briefly then others would benefit from your creativity and experience; thus, benefiting the cell church around the world. 

 

I have the privilege of coaching various pastors, some of them being church planters. One of those church planters is Jeff French, who is planting Resurgent Church in Newnan, Georgia. Before starting the church, Jeff was a pastor in a denominational mega church. He felt a burden to leave the church to not only plant one church but a movement of churches.

I’ve been impressed with how much time Jeff spends with unbelievers. Jeff and Laura, his wife, frequent the local bar to hang out and play trivia. Most of the people Jeff is befriending won’t mention religious things and even fewer go to church. Jeff doesn’t force it. Yet, he’s also noticing a lot of receptivity to Jesus among those people.

From all the contacts with outsiders, Jeff started his first pilot group in May 2007, which meets on Sunday evening. I’ll be sharing more about Jeff and his church plant in my new book, Planting Churches that Reproduce: Starting a Network of Simple Churches (published in October 2008). The main point of this blog, however, is how Jeff is able to connect with those in his pilot group during the week. Here’s the scenario:

• On Monday after the pilot cell group, Jeff sends each person a set of preparation questions for  the upcoming pilot cell group. The questions (and commentary) are based on a Bible passage and provide devotional study for the members during the week.
• Then on Thursday, he sends them an MP3 audio file about that particular lesson that he has prepared. The length of the audio is normally about 30 minutes. Since each person has already reflected on the Bible theme and the questions, the audio reinforces what they’ve already learned.
• On Sunday evening when they come together for the pilot group, each person is ready to share. Jeff combines lesson, worship, and break-out groups–it’s all participatory based on what each person has already been meditating upon during the week.

Here’s the good news. You can receive Jeff’s MP3 files and lessons for free! In my coaching session last week, I asked Jeff if I could share this resource with others, and he was fine with it. If you’d like to receive this weekly resource, simply write Jeff French at: resurgentchurch@yahoo.com and he’ll put you on his list. I just listened to the lesson last week and reviewed the reflective questions. They are great!

Comments?

Joel

After our first year of cell work the results were noticeable. The most visible aspect was the numerical growth. In its first nine years, the church had grown up to 3,000 members, with its traditional work. In just one year of cell work the church grew up to 10,000 members. In other words, in a year’s cell work the church grew what in its traditional format would had taken 27 years.

But there were also other results that weren’t so visible but still weren’t less real. The most important of it is that the church had drawn much more closer to the New Testaments´ church model. The issue is not about liking or not the cell model. It is about this being the church model that appears in the Scriptures and there is no other one. In that sense, our church had taken a step forward in obedience to God’s model.

Another result was that a leadership culture began to take place within the church. Each time even more, the aspiration of new converts was to become a cell leader.

The church also adopted a more communitarian conscience. In the relational environment that was lived inside the cells, people acquired a new concept of identity, of mutual responsibility and of deep fraternization.

Finally, another result was a great harvest of people trained for the work of the ministry. In fact, in the following years, most of the branch churches that were opened abroad, were the result of cell leaders that in a new country or city continued their work in a small group becoming later on a Branch Church.

Comments?

Mario Vega
Translation in Spanish:
Los resultados.

Después de nuestro primer año de trabajo celular los resultados fueron notables. El aspecto más visible fue el crecimiento numérico. En sus primeros nueve años la iglesia, con su trabajo tradicional, haba crecido hasta 3,000 miembros. En un sólo año de trabajo con células la iglesia creció hasta los 10,000 miembros. En otras palabras, en un año de trabajo con células la iglesia creció lo que en su formato tradicional le hubise tomado 27 años.

Pero, también hubo otros resultados no tan visibles pero no menos reales. Lo más importante es que la iglesia se haba acercado mucho más al modelo de la iglesia del Nuevo Testamento.
El tema no es tanto si nos parece o no nos parece el modelo celular. Se trata de que es el modelo de iglesia que aparece en las Escrituras y no existe otro. En ese sentido, nuestra iglesia haba dado un paso adelante en su obediencia al modelo de Dios.

Otro resultado fue que comenzó a desarrollarse dentro de la iglesia una cultura de liderazgo. La aspiración de los nuevos conversos comenzó a ser cada vez más la de llegar a ser un lder de célula.

También la iglesia adoptó una conciencia más comunitaria. En el ambiente relacional que se viva dentro de las células, las personas adquirieron un nuevo concepto de identidad, de responsabilidad mutua y de confraternización profunda.

Finalmente, otro resultado, fue una gran cosecha de personas capacitadas para la obra del ministerio. De hecho, la mayor parte de iglesias filiales que se abrieron en el extranjero, en los años posteriores, fue el resultado de lderes celulares que al verse en un nuevo pas o ciudad continuaron con su trabajo en un grupo pequeño llegando a convertirse después en una iglesia filial.