Month: June 2008

Jeff Tunnell here, pinch hitting for Rob Campbell. The acronym SMART has been used with slightly different variations both in the Cell communities and in business applications. Here are some of the variations which can be used to provide a comprehensive definition for your goal setting:

S – specific, significant, stretching
   Well defined, easily understood, and a little bigger than YOU.
M – measurable, meaningful, motivational
   You should be able to tell where you are in the process at any time.
A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
   If everyone involved has agreement on the goal, whether at the Cell group, next leader or church-wide level, the team will contribute more successfully.
R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
    Do we have the resources and knowledge to accomplish this, do we have a ‘word from God’ on it, do we believe the Holy Spirit will enable us to do this…?
T – time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
     Do we have enough time to accomplish / or have we allowed too much time?

Example:
• Specific: Each existing Cell leader multiply one new leader by the end of 2008. (new leaders will open new cells)
• Measurable: With the Equipping Track in place, each existing leader knows the steps their Multiplication leader has taken and what still needs to be completed by them to open the new Cell group.
• Agreed upon: this is not a ‘forced’ goal, but one that is discussed thoroughly with the existing leader until agreement is reached – now we can pray it through together!
• Realistic: Faith and history say, “YES”, this is doable, how else will we accomplish the Great Commission effectively?
• Time-based and tangible: the date is set and smaller goals can be achieved between now and then to reach the end goal. Results become very tangible when the new Cell Opens! Everyone involved can celebrate the new leader and the new family of believers they have assembled to expand the Kingdom of God.

Sound “smart” to you?
Jeff

We (my family) just got back last Friday from Sweden, where we spent 1.5 weeks. I can tell you that there is spiritual life in Sweden! Pastor Sven (Filadelfia church in Nykoping) has 20 cells and 200 attending. Pastor P.J. has 45 cells and approximately 300 people (New Life Center in  VästerÃ¥s). These two cell churches live on the cutting edge, and I had the privilege of holding seminars and preaching in both of their churches.

Sweden, which was once a “Christian” country, is now secular and materialistic, with only 5% attending church and 23% believing in a personal God. This country was once a missionary sending base but has largely forgotton the God who made it great. The country is truly impressive (e.g., scenery, landscape, transportation system, fashion, multiple languages, etc.), and we as a family greatly enjoyed our time there. Yet, the last night of the trip I couldn’t get to sleep as I thought of the spiritual poverty that can easily go unnoticed in the midst of prosperity.

Pastor Sven told me that many pastors from other countries come to Sweden to promote their particular models of church growth. Yet, the models don’t seem to work. “We don’t need more models,” Sven confirmed. “We need Christ’s power working in our midst.” Sven, a gifted networker, loves the cell strategy because it’s Biblical, based on principles, and focuses on relationships. “The only way to reach the people in Sweden,” Sven told me, “is to develop relationships with them. People are turned off to organized religion, but they desperately need Jesus. Often they’re more open to come to a cell group before celebration.” I was impressed that Sven had more people in cells than celebration. His cells effectively evangelize and reach new people for Jesus. He gave a testimony of a young person on the verge of suicide that joined one of the cell groups, made her way to the youth service, and then received Christ.

“Lonliness is the major problem in Sweden,” my translator told me. “People can live next to each other for years and never greet each other.” My translator was planting a cell church from scratch through building relationships with lonely people who desperately needed friendships.

I’ve come to realize more and more that cell church is not a formula or a model. It’s a lifestyle that focuses on winning people to Jesus through building relationships.

Comments?

 

Joel

by Mario Vega

When you delegate people to be in charge of the cell work there’ll always be a risk of disloyalty. Approximately one year after starting our work with small groups, one of our zone accountables miss used the trust that was granted to him. He broke apart a group of people who were under his responsibility by slanders and lies.

Despite the damage, we didn’t cease in our desire to continue working with cells and, consequently, to continue delegating responsibilities. Bad examples should not stop us from doing God’s work.

I estimated that it would take us a little more than a year to return to the level we had before the division. But it wasn’t like that. Surprisingly, in the next quarter, we achieved a goal of 125% of growth. In three months we had returned to the previous level. We were surprised and thankful to God at the same time.

As with any person who divides the body of Christ, later on that young man revealed his true character. Today his group has become nothing and those who one day left the church have returned after realizing they’d followed a deceit.

Despite these realities, we must not get tired of continuing with our efforts. With or without cells, churches will always face problems with disloyal people. The risk is not introduced by the cellular model but by the ambition of evil workers.

Comments?

Mario

Translation in Spanish:

Fidelidad y deslealtad.

Al delegar encargados en el trabajo celular siempre se corre el riesgo de la deslealtad. Aproximadamente un año después de iniciado nuestro trabajo con grupos pequeños, uno de nuestros encargados de zona utilizó mal la confianza que se le otorgó. Utilizando la calumnia y la mentira separó un grupo de personas que estaban bajo su responsabilidad.

A pesar del daño producido, no nos detuvimos en el deseo de continuar trabajando con células y, consecuente, continuar delegando responsabilidades. Los malos ejemplos no deben detenernos de hacer la obra de Dios.

Calculé que volver al nivel que tenamos antes de la división nos tomara un poco más de un año. Pero, no fue as. Sorprendentemente, en el siguiente trimestre, alcanzamos una meta del 125% de crecimiento. En tres meses habamos vuelto al nivel anterior. Estábamos sorprendidos al mismo tiempo que agradecidos con Dios.

Al igual que con toda persona que divide el cuerpo de Cristo, aquel muchacho reveló su verdadero carácter tiempo después. Su grupo ahora ha venido a ser nada y aquellos que un da salieron de la iglesia ahora han regresado al darse cuenta que siguieron un engaño.

A pesar de estas realidades, no debemos cansarnos de continuar con nuestros esfuerzos. Con o sin células las iglesias siempre enfrentarán problemas con personas desleales. El riesgo no lo presenta el modelo celular sino la ambición de los malos obreros.

 

 

Jeff Tunnell – Filling in for Rob Campbell (which is difficult to do!)

“Thank you, thank you, and thank you!”

Rob sure got us talking this week. JCG appreciates your comments! If you haven’t read all the comments posted to last week’s questions posed by Rob Campbell, they would be worth your time; they present another Blog in themselves.

Certainly, I am hearing that we are on a definite journey in the Cell church movement. Explorers and learners are we, with specific desires to see Jesus lifted up, draw men to Himself, and establish His kingdom within us and throughout the earth. Luke 17:20-21. Our discoveries of Cell church occurred in similar ways and during the time when the Holy Spirit was breaking the revelation upon the church around the world. Since then we have been probing and practicing, growing in confidence and in our understanding of the basic principles occurring in the early church.

Practicing those principles excites and motivates us, because they work! When they don’t produce the expected results, we consult with the Head of the church, and with one another, to see if we have applied incorrectly. Adjustments are made and we make another run at it. We refuse to surrender to mediocrity because we understand the advantages and strengths of walking in obedience to the heavenly vision given by the Holy Spirit.

We gather here, benefiting from the guidance and wisdom of great leaders in the movement, who are kind enough to spend themselves for our continued advancement. And in the sharing of comments, we benefit further. So, thank you, thank you, and thank you! Your participation keeps us sharp, focused, specific, and current in our goal to resource the world-wide cell church.

Jeff

 

 

 

by Steve Cordle

 

Joel’s encouragement to set goals wisely is so important.  As Rick Waren said, a goal is a dream with a deadline.

I have found that the best goals are:

1) From God –  Spending time in prayer to heare from God makes the goal something more than my own preference. If I set the goal, I might give myself the option to forget about it before it is accomplished. But if I am convinced the God gave me the goal, then I wil feel a great inner drive to acomplish it. I will also pray with more authority for the power to accomplish it.

2) A stretch – a goal is a great faith-strengthener. It will cause me to see what is not yet, and give me the chance to see God at work.

3) Involves others – When you include the members of your group in the achieving of the goal, you increase the chances for success, have more fun, and build their faith, too.

 Without goals your group can flounder. Without goals your ministry may not achieve all that God intends – because a God-inspired goal will require the risk of faith.

When I feel falt, I often pray, “Lord, you have a desire for this ministry, and for these groups. What is it? Let me accomplish it by Your power.” It is fun to see how He answers that prayer!

 

 

Steve