Myth: Cell Church Is a Fad

Posted by Joel on February 18, 2012

Many look at cell church as a hot trend of the 1990s, but believe that there are now more cutting-edge strategies going on in the church.

Some of the newer trends are multi-site ministry, seeker models, video venues, and so many more. Some think the cell church had its day but church life and ministry has largely passed it by; we should now focus on more promising developments.

Truth: The Cell Church Has Deep Roots

I was recently reading a book by Ron Trudinger called Cells for Life: Home Groups, God’s Strategy for Church Growth. The author writes with penetrating clarity about the effectiveness of home cell groups and their power to transform lives and raise up new leaders. While reading the book, I had to keep on reminding myself that Trudinger is now in heaven, and he wrote the book in 1979!

There is nothing new under the sun. Home cell groups have been around for a long, long time. As I reflect on my own ministry, I’m keenly aware and appreciative of the pioneers who have gone before me. Carl George’s 1991 book, Prepare Your Church for the Future, revolutionized my own vision for cell groups and transformed my ministry. I stand on his shoulders. I’m also very grateful for Ralph Neighbour and Bill Beckham, two cell church pioneers, who have helped so many churches understand the values and principles behind cell ministry. Every time I read Neighbour’s Where Do We Go From Here, I receive new insight and grow in my appreciation for both the author and his in-depth cell church theology.

Going back even further, we see David Cho, the founder of the modern day cell church movement. I have never fully recovered from reading Cho’s Successful Home Cell Groups back in 1984. It lit a passion inside me for the possibilities of home group ministry. But Cho didn’t start the cell church movement. He 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).

The modern day cell church movement is not new. It’s actually quite ancient. I’m grateful for the pioneer work of Ron Trudinger and others. While we in the present day cell church movement ask God for future insight and direction, we are very grateful that cell church is not a fad. Cell church is here to stay.

Restoring the side-lined

Posted by Bill on

“If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it?” (Luke 15:4).

Misunderstanding and mistakes abound in every church. This is normal. Through circumstances that are intentional or otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt or offended. At times, the feeling of hurt or offence is severe enough to cause a member to quietly withdraw from the church.

One morning, during my time as Pastor of the Dungog Baptist Church (a country town in NSW, Australia) I discovered a basket of vegetables that was left on the back door step of our Manse. The name of the giver was on an accompanying note, expressing kind thoughts towards me and my family. The right thing was to track down this person to personally thank them for their expression of kind love. I knocked on the front door of Ruth’s house, believing her to be a widow. To my surprise, an elderly, looooong-bearded man opened the door and grumbled out a cold “yes, can I help you?” Ruth wasn’t a widow. She had an alive husband! Why had I not known about him? I introduced myself to John and explained the purpose of my visit.

It wasn’t long after the time of my surprise encounter with John that I learnt his story of how he had been hurt and offended by someone in his previous church, in a nearby town. How long ago did this sad event take place before my meeting with John? Twenty years! Did John have to stay “lost” to Christian fellowship and service for this length of time? No! If someone in his church had noticed his absence, and cared enough for him, John would not have been listed as being “lost”.

As I write, I know of three close friends who are no longer in fellowship with any church, who are no longer serving the Lord. One of them was a pastor of a church, and the other two held senior leadership positions with their churches. Misunderstanding and mistakes stole them away, quietly, and still has them lost … somewhere. I’ve done my best to reach out to them, to encourage them and love them, but the extent of their hurt is keeping them lost. I haven’t given up on them. I continue to pray for them.

Is there anyone close to you who has been “side-lined” through some circumstance that has caused them hurt or offence? Has anything been done to help restore them back into fellowship with a church? Is there anything you can do? We must do whatever we can to restore those who have been side-lined from our team or church. We must not give up on anyone. The Lord will never give up on us. We are too precious to Him. Look for the side-lined in your life. Angelic rejoicing awaits the restoration of the lost.

Bill

By the way, it wasn’t long before John came to the church in Dungog with his wife, Ruth, and later served as a Deacon with the church.

Servant-hearted Leadership Modelled in Lagos!

Posted by Bill on

“Finishing is better than starting …” (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

Pastor Sam serving his leadership team (standing, wearing white shirt)

The end of year (2011) workers celebration in Lagos was a way of showing gratitude to the Lord for a successful year of laboring in His vineyard. During the celebration, many recounted how the church began with just four leaders, but today, through the activities of their LIFE groups, their leadership had increased to thirty in number – actively doing God`s work with joy and gladness. At his church, they say, “It has been a discipleship made easy with the introduction of cells ministry into the church.

On behalf of the Lord and the pastoral team of the church, Pastor Sam expressed his appreciation of the lay leadership team. He also seized the opportunity to re-emphasise servant-hearted ministry and demonstrated this by serving all present with food and drink. He added that … “The Master expects more of this ministry in the years ahead.” Pastor Sam challenged everyone to take a cue from Godwin Adam’s testimony (see below) of how he served his way to the top of his place of employment within one month of being hired! Pastor Sam said, “The act of service is not limited to the four walls of the church building. By serving, we might win some into the Kingdom.”

When asked what they thought about the celebration, some in attendance commented:

Charles Emmanuel says: A jaw-breaking part of the party was when Pastor Sam removed his jacket and tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to serve the workers their meals and drink. Not only did he do this to show his appreciation for the workers, I believe this was a great way of setting an example to everyone that being a leader was about being a servant. This party also revealed the fact that every worker in Dominion Impact Church is important and special in the household of God. And the fact that someone is delegated to a menial role does not make him/her less important, irrespective of their task.

Bose Adedipe says: Greatness! Greatness! Greatness! Greatness is achieved through service. “Pastor Sam. You are a great model of servant-hearted leadership for us.” The end of the year workers party revealed the character and passion of our leadership to us, more than ever before.

Tayo Olatunji says: One thing that touched me most was the act of service as modeled by my daddy, Pastor Sam. This taught me humility, and the fact that service is not unto those who are older or better than us, but to the less privileged and the down trodden.

Godwin Adam says: Three weeks ago I was here to share my testimony of a new job at the cargo wing of the airport (Lagos). It happened that one of my senior colleagues asked me to sweep the floor of our Director`s office. I did the sweeping with joy, despite the duty being outside of my job description. I swept the floor, and went further by re-arranging the scattered office and placed things in order. Our Director later came into his office with his close friend (who has a good knowledge of how this office used to be in disarray). This friend congratulated my boss on the new-look office. Our Director asked who had tidied his office. When he learnt it was me, he immediately handed to me the keys to the warehouse and also the company`s accounting records, making me the company`s accountant and warehouse manager! Even when I said that I knew nothing about accounting, he simply said, “You are the right guy for these two positions. I give praise to God.

Friends, there are many in the church that are called ‘leader’- it’s their office. However, many of these ‘so called’ leaders have no idea what leadership means, and how to go about it. Jesus modeled leadership to the Church and the un-churched (Mark 10:43-45). Christian leadership is all about influencing others in the right way. Service is that way! Thank you, Pastor Sam, for modeling right leadership to us.

Bill

How’s your patience?

Posted by Bill on February 11, 2012

About 10 days ago, during my interview for a position with a local company as a funeral consultant, I was asked if I could share with them any known weaknesses. After a short time of self-examination I said … “Well, I would say that I still have far to go before I graduate from the Lord’s school of patience.” (In this school I’m in good company with many, many other believers.)

Impatience is a big problem for all of us. Not only are we impatient with ourselves, and others, but also with the Lord. In Psalm 13 (v 1-2) we hear David express impatience with the Lord:

How long will You forget me? Forever?
How long will You look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will the enemy have the upper hand?

Four times David cried out, “How long?” We are so time-conscious today. We have watches that show us split seconds! We squeeze, shove and push to save a few minutes here and there in traffic, then we squander ½ an hour when we get home.

We expect the Lord to do things in ‘our’ time schedule. The Lord, however, has His own plan and time schedule … He holds the stopwatch:

Abraham had to wait 25 years for the birth of his promised son, Isaac.
Isaac had to wait 20 years for his children to be born.
Joseph had to wait 13 years before he was set free from injustice.
Moses had to wait 80 years before he was called and commissioned by God.
David had to wait 14 years to be crowned King of Israel (after he was anointed by the Prophet Nathan at the age of 16).

When the Lord heard that His good friend Lazarus was dying, He purposefully delayed coming to his aid. The Lord’s delayed timing brought a greater miracle which meant a greater blessing to mankind and greater glory to God. Our impatience is a reflection of our sin nature … ‘self’. The Lord is the Universal Time Keeper. He owns and directs all time. When we are impatient we are questioning the Lord … JUST LIKE DAVID IN THIS PSALM.

Dear friends, how important is our “waiting on the Lord”? Well, as we practice patience in our lives and ministry, we actually make significant progress in our journey with Him.

Remember: THE LORD’S TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT!

Myth: The Cell Church Does Not Work

Posted by Joel on

Many pastors see cell church as a strategy that might work in other cultures but not in their own. This is especially true in the western world.

One church leader from North America wrote to me, “I was with a group of pastors the other day. One of the pastors, who is a church planter, said that cell ministry is not working in the American culture and it’s been generally set aside here in America. It works in other cultures, just not here.” Many pastors echo the concern that cell church might work over there but not here. It’s easy to look at the growing cell churches in other cultures and conclude that it won’t work in my context.

Truth: Cell Church Brings Health, Life, and Growth

Most pastors want more church growth than they are currently experiencing. Yet, in many places around the world there’s a decline in spirituality and church growth in general. In the western world, this decline has been taking place slowly but surely for many years. The cell church strategy reminds church members that it’s not enough to come to church on Sunday, hear a message, and then repeat the process the next week.

Cell ministry helps members to live out the message during the week, be accountable to a smaller group of believers, and receive training to become a disciple-maker. The good news is that cell churches have a better chance of surviving in resistant climates and actually growing more than non-cell churches.

Natural Church Development did a worldwide study that used twenty million pieces of data to compare growth rates of cell churches with non-cell churches. The study found that cell churches grow 2.5 times faster than traditional churches and are healthier according to the eight NCD health factors (more information about this entire study is on my website)