Month: April 2009

Ralph Neighbour is sponsoring a cell symposium in Waco, Texas on June 23-25, 2009 that you won’t want to miss. Ralph heads up the cell church component for the doctor of ministry program at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary. The cell church symposium is connected to the D.Min program. Check out the website and you’ll notice that key cell church leaders from around the world will be speaking. I asked Ralph the following questions:

Ralph, what will be different about this cell symposium than other cell seminars?

Our D.Min. cadre has discussed the impact we desire to see from the Symposium. In order for this to be more than “just another meeting,” we are praying for an impartation through you to the community of 300 delegates who will be present. Participants have already registered from foreign countries including Nigeria, Switzerland, Korea, etc. but most will be from the USA or Canada.

Ralph, what will be the focus on those who are presenting in the main sessions?

We do not desire to “parade” the seven Presenters.

We are asking them to approach the Symposium as missionaries to us:

“Why is America and other parts of the world being left out of the significant harvests you are seeing in your areas of ministry?”

Jesus spoke of the soils and how it receives the seed. We are asking these worldwide cell church leaders to answer the following questions:

Is the dearth of cell group churches in parts of the world a condition of the soil, or are there other factors to be considered?

Ralph, what will be the specific themes of each of the main speakers?

Each of the Presenters have been invited because they speak to us from different soils:

Eddie Leo: how the cells rooted in the soil of Islam.

Bill Smith: how the cells and “basic Christian communities” (sometimes called ‘house churches’) rooted in the soil of Restricted Access Nations.

Robert Lay: how the cells rooted in the soil of hundreds of traditional churches in Brazil.

Dion Robert: how the cells rooted in the soil of a demon-infested society.

Harold Weitz: how the cells rooted in the soil of South Africa and elsewhere through a powerful emphasis on equipping all believers for the work of ministry with a strong focus on prayer.

Mario Vega: how the cells rooted in the soil of a nation suffering from revolutions and poverty.

Jimmy Seibert: how the cells rooted in the soil of a college community with a passion to send church planters to the nations.

Ralph, could you give us more insight into what will be shared at the conference?

Each will share the Principles, Values, and Theology that drives their communities that will speak into the USA, but also to the world. (We do not want you to slip into “How To’s”. The afternoon Breakouts with speakers are designed to focus in that area.)

The D. Min. cadre has suggested that we follow the pattern of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), an invitation-only event (with a fee of thousands of dollars), where the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration. Each of the Presenters will be given 12 minutes to summarize the insights they bring to the Symposium.

On the first morning, the Presenters will summarize the passionate centers of what they bring to the Symposium, using no more than 12 minutes each.

Ralph, could you share more about the schedule?

MORNING SESSIONS: The balance of the mornings will be spent by my chairing a discussion between the Presenters related to these specific topics: PRAYING, EQUIPPING, PLANNING, EDIFYING, PASTORING, EVANGELIZING. The 300 delegates will reflect on their insights to what the presenters bring to these areas.

EVENING SESSIONS: The evening sessions will be a “free-for-all” discussion with Eddie, Robert and Harold interacting with the delegates on Tuesday night; Dion and Mario on Wednesday night; and Bill and Jimmy on Thursday night.

Initial questions will be submitted in advance in writing but we will leave the evening open for discussion.

Again, please check out the website: http://www.cellsymposium.com/

Comments?

Joel Comiskey

by Mario Vega

We learned our cellular model from Pastor Cho’s books. We found there that the refreshment time was one of the characteristics of the cell meeting. Pastor Cho shared in his books about the difficulties that had taken place at the beginning of his cell work because of the competition going on among his members for offering the most delicious snack. That led him to take measures, limiting the snack to just tea and cookies.

Based on that teaching, we took the idea of offering the guests the most modest snack possible. In El Salvador’s culture, the practice of having tea and cookies is not a custom, but there are several alternatives that could be used.

The goal was to prevent those hosts with limited financial resources from thinking that they could not be hosts because of not being able to offer a meal at the end of the cell meeting. We discovered that by keeping it simple,more people would agree to becoming new hosts.

Nevertheless, when a cell multiplies, in our system this becomes an occasion to celebrate. For this reason, the brethren of the cell meeting prepare a full meal with the traditional Salvadoran dish: the “pupusas.” Sometimes there may be chicken, tamales and everything that is available to offer. The cell multiplication is a party, and thus the groups wnats to celebrate.

We alwasy remember that the power of the refreshment time is to fellowship with guests and strengthen friendship ties.

What is your experience in this field?

Mario

Translation in Spanish:

El refrigerio.
Nuestro modelo celular lo aprendimos de los libros del Pastor Cho. All encontramos que una de las caractersticas de la reunión de célula era el refrigerio. El Pastor Cho comparta en sus libros sobre las dificultades que se haban dado al inicio de su trabajo celular a causa de una competencia entre sus miembros por ofrecer el refrigerio más suculento. Eso le llevó a tomar la medida de limitar el refrigerio a solamente galletas con té.

Partiendo de esa enseñanza, adoptamos la idea de ofrecer a los invitados el refrigerio más sencillo que se pudiese. En la cultura de El Salvador no se acostumbra ni el té ni las galletas; pero, s hay diversos sustitutos que se podan utilizar.

La idea era que las personas de limitados recursos económicos no pensaran que no podan ser anfitriones por el hecho de no poder ofrecer una comida al final de la reunión de célula. Manteniendo la sencillez, es mucho más fácil que las personas accedan a convertirse en nuevos anfitriones.

No obstante, cuando se produce una multiplicación de una célula, en nuestro sistema es toda una ocasión para celebrar. Por ese motivo los hermanos de la célula preparan una comida completa. Con el tradicional plato salvadoreño: las ‘pupusas’. A veces puede haber pollo, tamales y todo lo que se pueda ofrecer. La multiplicación de la célula es una fiesta y no una tristeza.

Con todo, siempre se conserva la idea que el refrigerio no es más que una excusa para retener un poco de más tiempo a los invitados para estrechar lazos de amistad con ellos.

¿Cuál es su experiencia en este campo?

Jeff Tunnell

Dr. Michael Erickson, author of “Recovery Cells, Small Groups for People in Recovery”, has been our Associate Pastor for 17 years.  Starting today (this is NOT an April Fools joke) he has been appointed as Senior Pastor for the Big Bear Foursquare Church!!  This is a very unique multiplication of leadership indeed, as we are an independent church and not affiliated with the denomination.

Some of our blog readers are aware that on March 1, 2009, I initiated a 3-year transition process for the Senior Pastorate of our church, Big Bear Christian Center.  This includes determining who the upcoming “Timothy, Joshua, Elisha” is and preparing him during the 3-year period.  It also opened the door for Pastor Mike to seek a new fruitful field for his ministry expansion.

To have Mike appointed to another “local” church in our area is fantastic!  Now there are TWO cell based churches in our community with a vision for multiplying cells to reach our population with the Good News of Jesus our Savior.

Congratulations Pastor Mike!  Thank you Big Bear Christian Center for supporting a great vision. Thank you Joel, for your confident coaching and friendship.