Kamal Mounir

Before we joined 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.

Kamal & Lavinia Mounir
Romania