Month: March 2010

By Rob Campbell

www.cypresscreekchurch.com

In the scriptures, we find a strong, dedicated leader of the people of God– his name is Moses. Moses was a brilliant man, educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). When we think of Moses, we recall God using him to part the Red Sea. We remember the challenges presented to him by his own people as they wandered through the wilderness. We think of his mentoring abilities with certain protégés like Joshua. There were times, however, when Moses needed others to experience God’s power. Let me cite three examples.

First, Moses was called by God to speak with the Egyptian Pharaoh and lead God’s people to liberty. His response to the Lord may ring of familiarity to you. “O Lord, I have never been eloquent,” he said. “I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Here, Moses is expressing to God his lack of confidence and power. How does God respond? God instructs Moses to take his brother, Aaron, with him to speak with the Pharaoh. In essence, God said to Moses, “Okay, my chosen leader, look around you– who is best qualified on your team to deliver the goods?”

The second episode illustrating Moses’ need for others occurs during Israel’s battle with the Amalekites. In Exodus 17:10-13 we read, “Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up– one on one side, one on the other– so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army.”

Finally, in Exodus 18 we find a very tired and weary leader. Moses was serving the people as judge from morning till evening. Enter Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. Jethro is being used of God as he says to Moses, “You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone” (Exodus 18:18). Jethro further advises Moses to select capable people who would serve as judges over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, leaving only the most difficult cases to Moses.

Please notice that in all three cases cited above– God provided the power for Moses to be an effective leader. God sent to Moses other people– his team members. Now, don’t miss Moses’ response to these three scenarios in his life. He received his team members as a gift from God. This reception of help is rooted in humility.

Like Moses, you may need to receive help from God through others. No man is an island. No man can be strong all the time. Who is God placing in your life to be a conduit of His power? Who is your Aaron? Hur? Jethro?

Comments?

Rob

by Joel Comiskey

Some of you have read the old English story of the hare (rabbit) and the tortoise (turtle) called Aesop’s Fable. In the story, the rabbit ridiculed the turtle for having short feet and a slow pace. The turtle replied, “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.” The rabbit agreed to a race, believing that the turtle could never win. The two started the race together, and the turtle never stopped, following a slow but steady pace to the end of the course.  The rabbit, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep.  At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he realized the turtle had already finished and won the race.

I see this story played out in the cell church world today. Some cell models, like the rabbit, offer quick growth and the promise of rapid numbers. Here in Brazil, various pastors started following a cell model in Latin America that promised instant growth for those adopting their entire model. These pastors abandoned the slow, steady training that Robert Lay and Ministerio Igrega em Células offered.

The purpose of Ministerio Igrega em Células is to teach values, principles, and to network pastors and leaders together on the cell church journey (four modules, annual confernces, and lots of material). Some began to criticize Robert Lay’s ministry as being too “turtle like.” They felt that he and his ministry over-emphasized cell chruch theology, values, starting with a prototype, and making transitional change in a slow, steady manner.

The good news is that many churches who took the time to study cell church principles and network with other pastors are now shining models for others to follow. I heard testimony after testimony from these pastors at the two annual Ministerio Igrega em Células conferences this past week (1400 attended the southern Brazil conference and 900 attended the northern Brazil conference). Some of these model churches now have 100s of cell groups and are giving birth to new cell churches in other places.

On the other hand, many of the “quick growth” churches are realizing that the glitter quickly fades in the reality of day to day cell church minsitry. Some are now rejoining Robert Lay’s network.

I’ve seen the same phenomenon played out in the U.S. One famous church helped other churches start dozens and dozens of groups very quickly. Churches gave glowing reports of the rapid growth of their small groups. The problem was that these groups only lasted a couple months. According to this strategy, they weren’t supposed to last any longer. Some pastors then tried the “bait-and-switch” technique of convincing the temporary groups to continue. Most dissolved.

Turtle-like ministry requires long-term persistence, passion, and perseverance. It’s easy to give up along the way, or jump on the bandwagon of the latest, greatest sucess story. Yet, I’ve been encourged afresh to take the long-term approach. Why? Because the results are lasting and eventually such a strategy will win the race, just like the turtle.

Comments?

Joel

by Mario Vega

When we started our work with cells, the enthusiasm spread rapidly, and the members invited many people. Some of the newly invited friends attended so much that they became well acquainted with the inner workings of small group dynamics. These same non-Christian people volunteered to host the cell groups in their own houses, since they were thoroughly enjoying the cell atmosphere. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a new situation that didn’t fit the normal pattern of cell ministry.

To avoid giving a negative answer that could discourage these friends, we decided to start rotating the cell groups from house to house. The cells would be in one house from one, two, or at the most three weeks. Then the cell would rotate to a new location nearby.

Even today, our cells continue to rotate in this way, until one of the host families comes to faith in Christ. When this happens, we ask the converted family to host the cell on a permanent basis.

The only way we’ve found for a rotating cell NOT to lose its identity is to have a committed core group in each cell. We’ve found that when there is a committed core, the cell remains healthy regardless of the physical space it occupies. The house may change, but the core remains the same and moves to where there is a need to shed the light of Christ.

Comments?

Mario

Translation in Spanish

Células rotativas

Al iniciar nuestro trabajo con células, el entusiasmo corrió rápidamente y muchas personas comenzaron a ser invitadas. Algunos amigos asistieron tantas veces a una célula que llegaron a comprender un poco sobre la dinámica de trabajo.

Pronto aparecieron personas, que sin ser cristianas, solicitaban ser anfitriones para que en su casa se desarrollara una célula. Ante semejante solicitud nos encontramos con una situación que, de alguna manera, rompa con el modelo acostumbrado del trabajo celular.

Para no dar una respuesta negativa que pudiera desalentar a los amigos, decidimos comenzar a trabajar con algunas células rotativas. Estas son células que funcionan por una, dos o a lo sumo tres semanas en una misma casa. Luego, rotan para trasladarse a una nueva casa ubicada en las cercanas.

La célula continúa as rotando a menos que una de las familias anfitrionas llegue a la fe del evangelio. Cuando eso ocurre, la célula se convierte en permanente y no rota más de casa en casa.

Obviamente, la clave para que una célula rotativa no pierda identidad es que el núcleo de la misma esté muy bien consolidado. Cuando eso sucede, la célula se estructura en torno a s misma y no en relación a un espacio fsico determinado. La casa puede cambiar, pero el núcleo sigue siendo el mismo y se traslada a donde hay necesidad de iluminar con la luz de Cristo.

By Rob Campbell

www.cypresscreekchurch.com

Author Rick Love formulated these ideas on team development. I thought they might be helpful to this blog community. I believe the four stages cannot only be applied to one’s team, but also a cell.

Here’s a synopsis of Rick’s ideas. There are four stages most teams go through before they are productive: forming, storming, norming and performing. These four stages describe what happens in team relationships. While we call these stages, there is another sense in which these dynamics are cyclical. That is, teams go through ever deepening levels of storming, norming, and performing. It is also true that individuals on the team may be storming with one teammate and performing with another. Thus, these stages merely give a rough outline of the growth dynamics of any team.

FORMING:
The beginning stage of team life. Expectations are unclear. Members test the water. Interactions are superficial. This is the honeymoon stage.

STORMING:
This stage is characterized by conflict and resistance to the group’s task and structure. The team is struggling through its differences. There are healthy and unhealthy types of storming. The goal is to work through the healthy types of storming and minimize the unhealthy types (since we live in a fallen world unhealthy storming will take place). In my experience as a team leader and coach, I have found that there is usually conflict

in five major areas: character problems, gifting fit, authority issues, vision and values dissonance, and personality differences.

NORMING:
In this stage, a sense of group cohesion develops. Members accept the team and develop norms for resolving conflicts, making decisions and completing assignments.Norming takes place in three ways:

First of all, as storming is overcome, the team becomes more relaxed and steady. Because of growth in the five stumbling blocks of storming, the team is stabilizing. Conflicts are no longer as frequent and no longer throw the team off course.

Secondly, norming takes place when the team develops some kind of routine. Scheduled team meetings of various kinds give a sense of predictability and orientation to the team.

Thirdly, norming is cultivated through team building events and activities. Celebrations, public and private affirmation, retreats and fun get-togethers are practical ways to help the team norm.

These team-building events are also necessary to move the team to the performing stage.

The team’s goal is performing, not just norming. Yet, norming is a necessary transition stage. A team can’t get on to performing if there is no norming.

PERFORMING:
This is the payoff stage. The group has developed its relationships, structure and purpose. It’s beginning to tackle the task. The stumbling blocks of storming have been turned into stepping stones of performing. Let’s examine just how the five stumbling blocks of storming can be turned into stepping stones of performing.

Comments?

Rob

by Jeff Tunnell

Liz Lynberg is the Cell Champion for Monterey Church, located on the Monterey Peninsula in California. Their Sunday morning service unites people from around the historic Peninsula; Carmel, Pacific Grove, Seaside, Marina, Salinas and beyond.  Sunday morning services feature live and vibrant rock-styled worship and during the week they establish connections through D-Groups (Discipleship Groups).

I met Liz in Waco, Texas while participating in the Cell Symposium.  Recently Liz launched a new prayer thrust, partially inspired by this blog, so I asked her to give us some additional insights.

Jeff:  Can you give us an overview of the prayer ministry you recently implemented?

Liz:  We are a small team of women of varying ages and roles within the church who come together weekly to seek God on behalf of our church and our community.  John 15:5 says, “I am the vine and you are the branches, if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.”  We recognize our dependence on God’s power and anointing to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jeff:  What inspired you to make this decision?

Liz:  The Holy Spirit through prayer! Pastor Bryan James and I had been part of a church leadership prayer team and we were both sensing that God wanted to make a shift.  We believed that the Lord wanted the faithful prayers from the church body, not just from leadership.  Pastor Bryan also felt, that for now, it was to be a team of women.

Meanwhile, Rob Campbell blogged about the importance of prayer, telling about Cecelia Belvin, who serves as Pastor of Prayer for Cypress Creek Church and her book “In The Name of Jesus, Amen.” I ordered the book and received it the next day!  (Unusually speedy delivery, by the way!).  I immediately devoured it.  As I read, what stood out to me the most was the purity with which leads the women in prayer and the standard of excellence for Jesus that has been established and expected among the prayer team.  I sensed God pouring into me the courage and conviction I would need to establish such a team among our body.  My directions were to start small and He would be faithful to guide us.

Jeff:  As Cell Champion for your church, how did you communicate and coordinate with your Senior Pastor?

The Lord had already been directing each of us individually.  As I shared Cecelia’s book with Pastor Bryan, he encouraged me to pray about beginning an intercessory prayer team for Monterey Church.  I quickly ordered copies for a few other women and asked them to read and pray with me about what God would have us do.

This past January, these same women felt led by the Lord to join me to form our Prayer Ministry Team.  At our first meeting, we were joined by our husbands as our pastor prayed and commissioned us to serve God and our church in this way.

Jeff: Does this require a higher level of time commitment or is the prayer ministry actually a part of the cell meeting each week?

Liz:  While prayer is an integral part of our cell meetings, our prayer team has a separate meeting time.  The women are committed to meeting with the Lord in this way each week and are happy to give of their time in this way.

Jeff:  How have you seen God move?

Liz:  As we spend time in worship and praise and pray by faith, we have seen God answer prayers, sooth souls, heal wounds both physical and spiritual, quiet storms, bring unity and basically come in power and might!  As it says in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Jeff: Are there any goals for the prayer ministry, and how do they support your current goals?

Liz:  Our desire is to honor God with our lives and to be a blessing to our community.  We recognize that we cannot reach our neighbors with the love of Jesus without His covering and protection and direction.  Charles Spurgeon said, “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the mighty muscle of God.”  As the Lord builds our team in depth and He finds us faithful, I believe He will entrust us to grow and be able to touch more lives through prayer.

Thanks Liz, Godspeed to you and your team!  JCG is happy to have played a part in the process.