Month: September 2009

by Mario Vega

When we are born into our new life in Christ, we begin to learn like babies. Under those conditions, what ever we are presented with as the Gospel is what the Gospel will be to us.

In a cell church the new converts are immediately incorporated to the leader’s training course. They simply follow the instructions they receive from the church. Therefore, we must not think that new converts will resist to participate in a course that will train them to become new leaders.

When we believe that people might make objections, we are thinking for them. And we’re thinking wrongly. The truth is that they don’t know that the course they are entering will eventually prepare them to be a leader. Besides, even if they knew they would eventually become leaders, they don’t know exactly what it means. Their greatest desire as new believers is to do God’s will. Therefore, they don’t object to serving God as cell leaders.

For these reasons, do not hesitate to incorporate every new believer in the training course. Don’t forget that what ever we present to them as the Gospel, that will be the Gospel to them. Let’s present to them the Gospel of service to God.

Comments?

Mario

Spanish translation:

El evangelio del servicio.

Cuando nacemos a la nueva vida en Cristo, al igual que los bebés, comenzamos a aprender. En esas condiciones, lo que nos presenten como evangelio es lo que el evangelio será para nosotros.

En una iglesia celular la nuevos conversos son incorporados de inmediato al curso de entrenamiento de lderes. Ellos simplemente siguen las instrucciones que reciben de parte de la iglesia. Por ello, no debemos pensar que los nuevos conversos se pueden resistir a participar de un curso que les capacitará para ser nuevos lderes.

Cuando creemos que las personas pueden presentar objeciones estamos pensando por ellos. Y estamos pensando mal. En realidad, ellos no saben que el curso al cual se les invita es para llegar a ser un lder. Además, si supiesen que terminarán siendo lderes no saben exactamente que significa eso. Pero, lo más importante es que su máximo deseo, como nuevos creyentes, es hacer la voluntad de Dios. Por tanto, ellos no objetan el servir a Dios como lderes celulares.

Por esos motivos, no se debe dudar en incorporar a todo nuevo creyente en el curso de capacitación. No se olvide que lo que les presentemos como evangelio eso será el evangelio para ellos. Presentémosles entonces el evangelio del servicio a Dios.

  Jeff Tunnell

” Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”  Proverbs 13:12  NIV

This week welcomes the arrival of Rob Hastings, our new staff man.  I have seen the power of the above verse at work in me and was discussing it this morning with a very good friend of mine.  Many of you following this blog have accompanied me on the journey of transition during which this “smaller sized” cell church has begun preparing for the future.  We have been from one end of the emotional road to the other and have become familiar with both sides of the street!

Now we enter a time of rejoicing as the “longing” is fulfilled and becomes a tree of life for this congregation.   W e asked Rob to join us earlier in the year, and agreed that he should fulfill his assignment with the church he was serving at the time.  The months following were the season of longing for God’s desire to be manifested and for a goal to be reached.  Now we are here, finally, and  I want to enjoy the fruit from this tree of life.

Goal setting, an eye for the future, staying the course in difficulty, and remaining faithful in the calling of God on our lives are essential to continued ministry to His people.

There remain some “hopes” deferred and I continue to pray for their arrival and/or fruition, but for now…REJOICE!

by Rob Campbell

Who empowers others for ministry?

What is my role as a spiritual leader in this empowerment process?

First, Jesus is full of the Spirit of God– His source for power. He empowers you for ministry through His Spirit. Next, Jesus desires to release His power to his followers. Finally, as a leader, I must follow the example of Jesus and be a conduit of God’s power in the lives of others to release them for ministry. Therefore, as a pastor (or a cell leader), God uses me to empower others for ministry. This reality has nothing to do with my own power, but God’s power through me as Jesus exemplified in His own earthly ministry.

We see this impartation of leadership ability throughout the scriptures. “The Lord took some of the spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy elders, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it alone” (Numbers 11:17). As Moses prepared to relinquish his leadership role with the people of Israel, he said of Joshua (his successor), “Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him” (Numbers 27:18, 20). Be reminded of how David was selected by God to rule Israel. “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward” (I Samuel 16:33).

If you are still wrestling with your role in this process, then consider the following relationships of empowerment found in scriptures: King Artaxerxes and Nehemiah, Elijah and Elishah, Jesus and his twelve, Jesus and the seventy, Barnabas and Saul (Didn’t the ‘son of encouragement’ partner with God in empowering this former murderer of Christians?), Paul and Silas, Barnabas and John Mark, Paul and Timothy.

There are many more examples, but let’s focus in on you. Who partnered with God in empowering you to minister? Who believed in you? Who encouraged you? Who mentored you in your abilities, spiritual gifts and talents? Who took the time to listen to the dream that God put in your heart? Now, are you God’s conduit in empowering others? Or, are you all God needs in your field or area to do the work of ministry? How is God using you in empowering others for ministry?

Christian Schwarz writes, “Leaders of growing churches concentrate on empowering other Christians for ministry. They do not use lay workers as ‘helpers’ in attaining their own goals and fulfilling their own visions. Rather, they invert the pyramid of authority so that the leader assists Christians to attain the spiritual potential God has for them.”

M. Scott Peck wrote in A World Waiting to be Born: “Increasingly, the civil leader or manager begins to sense that the power of her position is not hers. It is not her possession; it is not hers to possess. The power belongs to God, and the proper role of the civil leader is merely to be a conduit and to steward that power as God’s agent. Merely! What a paradox! To exercise temporal power with civility is to undertake a role of great glory, and it can only be undertaken with genuine humility.” A spiritual leader saturated with the humility of Christ releases others for ministry so that God’s power may be extended.

Comments?

Rob