Month: January 2009

I’ve recently been excited about the relationship between the Sunday sermon (or in the case of ELIM, the mid-week teaching) and the cell group. Up until two months ago, we at Wellspring only celebrated once per month. We still gave the cell leaders a weekly lesson that we created from the biblical text.

However, since we’ve been meeting weekly, I’m excited about the possibility of hearing a message in a group gathering and then meditating on that message in the cell setting (to see last week’s cell lesson, click here). Sermons and cell lessons are two sides of the same coin. One side is informational and in-depth (sermon). The other side is practical and personal (cell lesson). [p.s.: an additional side is the equipping track. For example, I’ll be taking a family through the equipping track before the LIFE group begins, which adds even more depth to the discipleship experience].

No wonder functional cell churches are so healthy! Granted, discipleship beyond “church on Sunday” isn’t readily accepted in our culture. Yet, when the spiritual hunger for more is present, applying the sermon in the cell goes a long way in making disciples who make disciples.

What do you think? What is your experience in this area?

Joel Comiskey

by Mario Vega

A fundamental purpose of cell work is the pursuit of intimacy. The number of people that attend the cell meeting is kept small to allow the members to develop a closer relationship.

There’s no doubt that a reduced number of people in a cell is an important element to achieve intimacy. However, the number of people in a group doesn’t necessarily mean that a group will reach a place of intimacy.

For example, a group might only have two people, but it’s possible for those two people to be quite distant from one another–as distant as the rich man was from Lazarus. It’s also possible to have a group of 120 (like in the case of the disciples on the day of Pentecost) and achieve perfect unity (be in “one accord”)

What’s the difference between these two examples? The values. The true key to intimacy are the values that are practiced within the cell. It is possible to reach intimacy when solidarity, unity of purpose, love and faith are present.
It is important to keep the number of cell’s attendees low, but we must also work to plant, model and promote the values that will allow those people to reach intimacy.

What do you think?

Mario

Translation in Spanish

Valores para la intimidad.

Un propósito fundamental del trabajo celular es la búsqueda de la intimidad. El número de personas que asisten a una célula se mantiene reducido con el fin de permitir que sus miembros desarrollen una relación más estrecha.

No hay duda que un número limitado de personas en una célula es un elemento importante para lograr la intimidad. Sin embargo, preocupa que repetidas veces se insiste en el tema de la intimidad relacionándolo solamente con el número de personas y dejando de lado otros componentes muy importantes.

Un grupo de personas puede ser tan reducido que llegue a ser de dos. Pero esos dos pueden estar tan distantes el uno del otro como el hombre rico y Lázaro en la historia de Jesús. Otros grupos no son tan pequeños, pueden llegar a reunirse hasta ciento veinte como el primer núcleo de discpulos y ser completamente ‘unánimes’.

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre estos dos ejemplos? Los valores. La verdadera clave de la intimidad son los valores que se practican al interior de la célula. Cuando la solidaridad, la unidad de propósitos, el amor y la fe están presentes la intimidad es posible de alcanzar.

Es importante conservar bajo el número de asistentes a la célula pero también hay que trabajar por sembrar, modelar y fomentar los valores que permitirán a esas personas alcanzar la intimidad.

¿Qué piensa?

Mario

by Rob Campbell

www.cypresscreekchurch.com

It’s vision casting time for a new year.  So…cast vision with your cell and/or church family.

Vision is foresight with insight based on hindsight.  It is seeing the invisible and making it visible.  It is a God inspired strategic understanding of a different future.

Important characteristics of vision include:  Change oriented, Customized, Challenging, People oriented, Long term, Driving force, Reveals a promising future, Encourages giving, and Provides stability.

God says:  “I am able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to his power that works within us…Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland…Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Hebrews 11:8-16  details seven motivations necessary to accomplishing a vision. 

Faith in God (v. 8), Sacrifice (v. 9), Patience (v. 10), Bless others (v. 12), Be Persistent (v. 13), Maintain my joy (vv. 13-14), and Make eternal choices (vv. 15-16).

May God grant to you His vision this new year!

Comments?

January is a month of new beginnings. What would you like to see God do in your church in 2009? New cells? Start a celebration service? Transition to the cell church? Refocus?

One of my goals is to see a new robust cell group in my house which will primarily reach my neighborhood. One "outside the neighborhood" Christian couple will probably join us. Our plan is for my wife and I to meet with this couple at 6:30 p.m. to take them through the equipping track, starting with the LIVE book. The LIFE group will start at 7 p.m..

Yet, we’ve made it clear to this new couple that our vision is to reach neighbors. .

We invited our next door neighbor two days ago. They seemed very interested, but the wife mentioned that she works late on Tuesday night. The husband said that he was available, as well as their two daughters. I was pleasantly shocked when they said, "And our daughter has not been baptized, and we’re wondering if you could perform the baptism!" They went on to say, "As you know, we have a pool in the backyard." I mentioned the need for pre-baptismal training. My hope is that I can use the equipping track as the training–and not only prepare the daughter for baptism but also minister to the entire family.

Perhaps you already have a cell and your goal is to prepare another leader? Or perhpas you plan on becoming a coach of other cell leaders in 2009? What are you hoping to see God do in your church ministry in 2009?

Joel Comiskey