Cell Coaching

By Joel Comiskey

Summer 2010

Cell church ministry is very simple. It starts with a single cell. Both cell church planting and cell church transitioning begin with a pilot group. Who leads the first cell in both cases? The lead pastor (senior pastor). The lead pastor’s involvement is critical in the cell church and this is especially true when it comes to coaching.

Coaching can appear over-complicated. We talk about G12, 5X5, G12.3, and other coaching structures. Year ago, I followed one coaching structure that called the coaches Ls, Ds, and Xs. I quit using this system when I realized I spent way too much time defining the names!

The simple coaching truth is that when the pilot cell multiplies, whether in a church plant or a church transition, the lead pastor becomes the coach of the new leaders. In other words, coaching begins with the lead pastor. Yes, the lead pastor will eventually raise up supervisors to help carry the load, but the coaching vision/structure always resides with the lead pastor.

Some lead pastors are blessed to have additional pastors on the pastoral team. Ideally, those pastors are the fruit of the cell system (e.g., in a cell, multiplied a cell, became a supervisor, and eventually rose to the role of fulltime pastor on the team). The lead pastor primarily coaches the staff pastors who then coach the rest of the cell system

Most churches are small and have no full time staff, but the lead pastor can still establish a coaching team made up of lay cell leaders.

Remember: coaching is simple. It stems from the lead pastor and extends to all cell leaders. Don’t overly complicated the process.