July 2017

JCG Newsletters

Learning from Others

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." There are very few new ideas. Most are old ideas that have been recycled. Someone said that innovation is creative copying. The great American writer, William Faulkner, once said, "Immature artists copy, great artists steal." What Faulkner meant is that immature artists don’t do their homework. They simply copy an idea instead of reinventing it and making it their own. 

We in the cell church movement are debtors to the ideas and practices of others, whether those ideas come from Jethro in Exodus 18, the apostle Paul, St. Patrick, Peter Waldo, Count Zinzendorf, John Wesley, David Cho, or Ralph Neighbour. We depend on the past and gain confidence in the future from those who have gone before us.  

Some wrongly assume that David Cho, founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church, invented the modern day cell church movement. In reality, Cho stands on the shoulders of John Wesley and the Methodist movement, who were helped by the Moravians, who in turn were heavily influenced by the Pietists. And all of them stand on the New Testament’s emphasis of house to house ministry and celebration worship (Acts 2:42-46).

I just returned from a Foursquare denominational conference in Brazil. The Foursquare is undertaking the audacious task of transitioning their 20,000 churches to cell-based ministry. To do so, they are gleaning from churches outside of Brazil like Elim, Yoido Full Gospel Church, and a large Foursquare church in Honduras called "la Cosecha" (harvest). They are also learning from pastors inside Brazil like Abe Huber, Paulo Mazonni, and Aluizio Silva. They are reading books from Bill Beckham, Ralph Neighbour, and many others. Their goal is to resource their people to help them in the transition process. 

Every time I read Neighbour’s Where Do We Go From Here, I learn something new. I also have other favorite cell-based authors that you can check out here. I learn a lot from cell churches around the world. For example, Celyce and I were inspired by the prayer ministry at Ministerio Sabaoth in Milan Italy during our recent conference there. 

Who are your learning from and networking with? In the month of July, let’s talk about learning from others and being open to new ideas. If you’d like to receive the twenty-five July blogs in your inbox, press here.  

  • July 02-08: Why it’s important to learn from each other; no man is an island.
  • July 09-15: The danger of exclusivity; my way is the only way. We saw this in the G12 movement.
  • July 16-22: Testimonies of learning from Scripture, books, and cell churches.   
  • July 23-July 29:The importance of  connecting with history in small groups (biblical values, Wesley modern day cell movement)
  •  July 30-August 05: Feeding the vision today through books, blogs, networking with churches and pastors.

Who have you been learning from and network with? Feel free to comment here.

Joel Comiskey

Resources

Joel Comiskey and Jim Egli’s 2017 book, Groups that Thrive: 7 Surprising Discoveries about Life-Giving Small Groups will be available in November.

Spirit-special. For only 10.95 (and free U.S. shipping), get two books: The Spirit-filled Small Group and Discover ($21.00 retail price).

Youth in Cell Ministry, is available now for purchase. Read introduction and chapters here

Free articles and resources here

Free shipping for all books shipped in U.S.

Read parts of Joel Comiskey’s book, Children in Cell Ministry, here.  

Ebook for  2000 Years of Small Groups 

All books here.

JCG news

2017 JCG Event in Reseda, California

  • We will have our annual JCG event in the Elim Reseda Church, on March 09-11, 2018 (notice the extended schedule). Mario Vega and Joel Comiskey will be ministering in Spanish and simultaneous English translation will be available. Additional guest speakers will minister on Friday night and Saturday night.  Sign up now for $39.00.

2017 JCG Event in Falls Church, Virginia 

  • We will be holding our second JCG conference in Virgina/Washington D.C. area at the Elim Church Virginia area on September 02, 2017. You can register here.

JCG offers  coaching

  • Do you need help with your cell ministry? Perhaps you are making a transition to cell ministry and would like a coach to help you in the process. Or maybe you’re planing a new cell church. For more information on receiving coaching, please email us or call 1-888-511-9995. 

Desire a cell seminar in your church? Click here

2017 Seminar Schedule 

Social Media

Blogs

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 Donations  

  • Find out more about how you can invest in  (donate to) JCG, a non-profit ministry