We are thrilled to announce that Stu and Julie have accepted our invitation to serve the Lord on CCI’s board of directors. Stu’s role will be to help oversee the development of SGD training strategy and training resources. 
Stu and Julie are currently serving the Lord at Helensvale Baptist Church on the Northern end of the Gold Coast as “Life-group” Champions. They’re doing a great job!
Bezzie and I are so proud of our expanding team!
Bill & Beryl
As you marvel at all that you read on these pages you’re able to fast-forward through the journey we took at Maadi Community Church in Cairo, Egypt. We’re able to look back too and praise God for fruitfulness beyond our wildest dreams. To God be the glory! We, at our best, are just faithful servants who long to follow the Lord where He would lead us. Over the last eight years that has been an amazing journey. We’ve made many mistakes along the way but even these have taught us so much.
Through hundreds of cells we’ve been able to see at first hand the reality of cells and not just the theory. We have seen both healthy and unhealthy cells and through it all have continually desired to know what makes the difference. Some of the keys we have learnt are based on our individuality as a particular church, in a particular country, but as God began to spread the Small Groups Church Plan to other countries, out of Egypt, we discovered the essentials worked everywhere.
It’s out of this that our training has flowed. Our Small Groups Development manual has been used, adapted and refined at every stage along the way. As you read through the training material so much of it will seem simple and familiar. We so often try to intellectualize and complicate things, instead of actually living out what we are called to do. The greatest growth has come from being faithful – faithful in prayer, faithful in unity of vision and faithful in stepping out.
Ours is a story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, of a church being mobilised through the congregation. The church pastors have been able to return to equipping the many to be active in the church and the community. It’s a simple equation – the more people who are empowered, truly involved, the greater the fruitfulness. We so easily revert back to choosing comfort over growth but cells have helped us to lift one another up and consciously choose life. We continue to remember that leadership is serving and that as soon as we stop reaching outwards we begin to stagnate and die.
Where our cells are healthy they multiply life, they raise up new leaders, they help all members to discover and develop their gifts, they are a safe place for those that God is drawing to Himself, they are a catalyst to discipleship and the security of accountability.
I’m so grateful to God for being allowed to be a part of the story here in Egypt. I have been spoiled for the ordinary. I pray that our story will encourage you.
Dominic Beasant
(Previous members of MCC, now living in UK)
I stayed for one week in Bill and Beryl’s apartment in Cairo, Egypt and Bill has visited my home in Moreno Valley, CA. We’ve ministered together in the heat of the battle.
I can say through experience that Bill is not only friendly and funny, but he’s also a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And he’s passionate for the small group movement. He lives and breathes small group ministry. And he’s been very successful at it.
The Maadi Community Church in Cairo exploded from 0 to more than 400 cell groups (with over 4,000 cell group members) and nearly 1,200 cell pastors were trained – all under Bill’s capable leadership. Bill created the Small Group Church Plan at MCC and patiently guided and nurtured it to abundant fruit. While staying in his apartment, I watched him staying up late at night to make sure his supervisors were properly coached, people fully trained, and lessons correctly prepared.
I’m excited about Bill’s small groups ministry because he’s not only an expert in his field but he’s a true practitioner. I wholeheartedly recommend him.
Joel Comiskey
Before we joined Maadi Community Church (MCC) in 2001 our vision was to serve the Lord in Romania. At that time we didn’t know how to do that. We were warmly welcomed by the church leadership and members at MCC in a loving way. This motivated us to return to the church not only because we had found “real” fellowship but because we wanted to discover the reason behind their warmth. The answer, we discovered, was simple; MCC modelled the early church, as mentioned in Acts 2:46. The members of MCC worshipped together as one body at weekly celebration services and met in smaller sized small groups in homes during the week.
We quickly signed up for Small Groups Development training to learn the principles that under-girded that ministry. We expected training to be sophisticated and complex, but the principles we discovered were so simple and clear. We became deeply involved in the small groups ministry and subsequently were brought onto the executive leadership team. The five years we spent at MCC was a valuable preparation time for us.
In 2006 we began our ministry in Romania. We found the churches in Romania suffering from traditional dry worship, lacking focus in deep fellowship and without practical discipleship. Believers in these churches told us that they felt that they were just names in the churches’ register. We saw the churches in Romania facing real danger of stagnating and losing their members. Churches were sinking slowly.
We’ve had the opportunity to share the small groups vision with many pastors and church leaders. They responded very positively and expressed interest in applying the Small Groups Church Plan. We’ve helped to establish a network of small groups in two churches and have seen amazing results. The most common testimony we have heard is that “small groups are fulfilling what the church once lacked”. Believers are also saying that small groups are caring for them and they are experiencing deeper fellowship and motivation to apply God’s truth in practical ways. They also expressed excitement about working as a team, not as individuals, to evangelise their community through simple acts of love.
We experienced amazing success at MCC through small groups, and now in churches in Romania. Small groups can work exceptionally well in any culture and country to build-up believers, the church, and expand the Kingdom of God. Building up the church through small groups follows the biblical model.
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