Massive Christian Rallies

marioby Mario Vega

Two years after starting our work with cells, the church had significantly grown in its membership. That had forced to distribute the congregation into RALLYseveral schedules on Sunday, and among several weekdays.

But, after some time under these conditions, the church started to miss the meetings where the entire congregation could be together in a single celebration.

Since the physical space of the church’s building no longer allowed such kind of meeting, it was decided to make a massive rally at the National Stadium. It has capacity for 45,000 people and it was the right place to gather the entire church in a single celebration again.

The rally took place in December 1988 and had an attendance of 25,000 people approximately. This was the number of cells attendees at that time.

The rally fulfilled its purpose of gathering the entire congregation again. And it was a surprise for the church to see itself so numerically developed. In addition, the city was impacted by the fact that there was such a large church. Since then the church’s event was seen as an evangelization instrument that could impact the press and all sectors of society.

Comments?

Mario Vega

Translation into Spanish:
Eventos masivos de células

Dos años después de iniciado el trabajo con las células, la iglesia haba crecido notablemente en su membresa. Eso haba obligado a distribuir la congregación en varios horarios el da domingo y entre varios das de semana.

Pero, después de algún tiempo bajo esas condiciones, la iglesia comenzó a extrañar las reuniones donde toda la congregación poda estar junta en una sola celebración.

Dado que el espacio fsico del edificio de la iglesia ya no permita tal clase de reunión, se decidió hacer un evento masivo en el Estadio Nacional. Éste tiene capacidad para 45,000 personas y era el lugar adecuado para poder reunir de nuevo a toda la iglesia en una sola celebración.

El evento tuvo lugar en diciembre de 1988 y se tuvo una asistencia de aproximadamente 25,000 personas. Que era la cantidad de asistentes que se tena en células en ese tiempo.

El evento cumplió su propósito de reunir de nuevo a toda la congregación. Y fue una sorpresa para la misma iglesia el verse tan desarrollada numéricamente. Además, la ciudad fue impactada ante el hecho que existiese una iglesia tan numerosa. Desde entonces, el evento de la iglesia se vio como un instrumento de evangelización que poda impactar a la prensa y a todos los sectores de la sociedad.

4 thoughts on “Massive Christian Rallies

  • honestly, the numbers are staggering, in a positive way. It’s amazing to hear about and hard to relate to, which is an indictment of us.

    In addition, it provides a picture of success of cell group ministry in that a pastor doesn’t have to sacrifice reaching the masses by focusing on cell group ministry…and in fact, the masses will be reached at an increased rate (it is simply decentralized – except for the large rallies).

    Scott in Vegas
    http://www.newchurchreport.com – New Church Report
    http://cells-twelves.blogspot.com – Expectation Blog

  • I have been to Pastor Vega’s church and bi-annual conference and “seeing” was extremely helpful. HIs conference is November 10-16, 2008. If you have the capability to attend get moving!

  • The idea that the Pastor has to do everything must be change. We must understand that the cellular ministry is responsibility of all of us. Everyone is responsible for the rest of his/her brothers and sisters. This does not mean that the pastor does not work hard and that he just watches the rest work. When a pastor is not involved, eventually the cells die.
    For me the objective of presenting these examples is to encourage everyone to work in the cellular system because I know it works. This is the model of God.

  • And the cool thing about Mario’s church is that those numbers are a weekly reality. The lay cell leaders do the lion’s share of church work by pastoring the flock and evangelizing the lost. I’m also stimulated to new heights and vision whenever I go to the ELIM church.

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