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"Building Relationships With God and Each Other" Our church has come to realize that Small Groups are very valuable to personal Christian growth, and the membership growth of the local church. They provide the opportunities to invite neighbors, coworkers, friends, and relatives to a place other than church-to small group atmosphere, and to introduce them to Jesus Christ.
Other benefits of small groups include: building relationships, building communication, promoting spiritual growth, facilitating dynamic discussion and developing new leaders.
By connecting people rationally in groups they will become more Christlike, more loving to each other, and contribute to the work of the church wholeheartedly, in order to glorify God and lead others the Christ.
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KEY SMALL GROUP VALUES
- Affirmation
- Confidentiality
- Availability
- Sensitivity
- Prayer
- Accountability
- Opennes
- Evangelism
- Honesty
- Mutiplication
- Safety
SMALL GROUP HELP RESOURCE How To Get Started The biological cell is a basic building block of life. Healthy cells multiply themselves millions of times in the course of a lifetime. Each new cell looks identical to the original cell because the DNA branded nucleus multiplies itself before the cell reproduces. In this way, the new cell is as healthy and productive as the original cell in it's given role. The cells work together as organs, muscles, bone and skin to make the body function as a true miracle from God.
A spiritual cell group is very similar to a biological cell. Followers of Jesus Christ edify one another and increase the kingdom by sharing their lives with unbelievers. New leaders are raised up from within the group (with the support and training by their pastoral staff) to grow and expand the ministry to a hurting world. When the group multiplies, the process repeats itself.
"Oh, this is just like . . ." Cell groups aren't simply another name for a Bible study, fellowship group or Sunday School class. They are a group of believers who have banded together for a season in life to reach the lost, minister to the hurting and each other, and discover their leadership potential. Sure, cell groups study the Word, but they do so in order to live out what they read and use it effectively to penetrate a dark world with the light of Jesus Christ . . . which is quite different from studying a passage each week for general knowledge. Cell groups also have lots of fun together . . . but this fellowship is specialized in that it usually exposes unbelievers to a group of fun, Jesus-loving people. In other words, cell groups even use fellowship as an evangelistic tool! And last, it wouldn't be right to call a Sunday morning classroom experience a cell group. A cell group should meet in a place and time that is comfortable for both the believers and unbelievers visiting, and provide enough time to share deep concerns and pray for one another. Rarely can either of these things be done within one hour at a church building, early on a Sunday morning.
Some pastors think that cell groups will march to the beat of their own drum, operating independently and dividing the church. Not so! Cell groups help to live out what their pastor preaches on Sunday. Cell leaders are faithful under-shepherds for the senior pastor and the Lord, serving in a unique capacity to serve and love. Cells are not house churches or autonomous. Cell groups extend ministry and evangelism to every person in a local church body.
"Where do cell members gather?" Cell members meet weekly in homes, factory break rooms or the back area of a local restaurant. The meeting place is not as important as convenience, time and space issues. Group members find the best place to minister to one another and make evangelistic plans to touch the lost. This is where cell members and unbelievers experience "the Christ within and in the midst" with other believers, or an immanent expression of Christ.
Cell Groups also come together with other cells as a local church body at celebration services, usually held once a week. There is corporate worship, solid teaching from God's Word, and a time for pastoral ministry. This is where cell members and unbelievers experience the transcendent expression of Christ.
Both gatherings are vital for success! The cell group meets to experience Christ's love through others in a warm setting. The celebration service (the gathering of cells) is to experience God in high worship and to receive teaching from His Word. One without the other would not fulfill all God has for His people.
[Intrigued by the immanent/transcendent thinking shared here? Learn more in The Second Reformation by Bill Beckham]
"Just two meetings a week?" While believers meet together each week to share their lives and pray as a cell group, the productive work of the group members is done in the days and hours between meetings. The meeting itself is seen as a discovery time for a week of ministry to each other and the lost.
God desires for us to live in community and commanded us to work out our salvation together (Phil. 2:12 ). We were never instructed to live the Christian life outside of a caring community. Iron sharpens iron, which means a cell group is an ideal place to grow. A believer might be challenged from a message heard on Sunday, but he will certainly need other believers with whom he can interact and build trust to live it out fully and then give it away to others.
The power to reach this lost world is ours! As born again believers in Jesus Christ, we have been commanded to fulfill the Great Commission found in Matt. 28:18-20 . This can easily be accomplished if churches around the world will launch cell groups to harness the power of basic Christian community to reach friends, family, coworkers and neighbors for Jesus. You see, cell groups employ "net fishing" and successfully reach the lost through relational evangelism. Fewer converts fall away with this approach, because new believers are adopted into a spiritual family and a new church home. It's also easier to reach people for Jesus as a team... not to mention it's so much fun.
We are living in the last days. God has called us to storm the gates of Hell, set the captives free and fulfill the Great Commission. It can easily be accomplished through cell groups in your church. Cell Groups are built for storming! How To Take Your Cell Group To The Next Level More than a few churches are staunch believers in cell groups and have even developed some in their churches. But they have yet to see the cell group growth that churches around the world are seeing. This has led some to say that cell groups won't work in America. Some have even given up on the vision. Others have stuck with cell groups, but they have sought far and wide for a new cell group structure they can copy.
More than a few churches are staunch believers in cell groups and have even developed some in their churches. But they have yet to see the cell group growth that churches around the world are seeing. This has led some to say that cell groups won't work in America. Some have even given up on the vision. Others have stuck with cell groups, but they have sought far and wide for a new cell group structure they can copy. Many churches have falsely assumed that if they adopt the "right" cell group structure, the groups will automatically grow. But as Mark Eliot of Faith Promise Church (a church with over 90 cell groups in Knoxville, TN) states, "There is no magic bullet." You will not find THE perfect formula for doing groups in your church. God is too creative for that. He wants to raise up an organic cell group structure that fits your church so that the groups will touch their "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth."
While there is no magical structure that will transform your groups from mediocrity, the churches that have taken their groups to the next level share a few common elements:
First, these churches understand the difference between programmic cell groups and spiritual community in cell groups. Programmic cell groups look a lot like spiritual communities, but the feeling is very different. Programmic groups meet once per week. They discuss the Word. Members pray for one another. But the routines have become routine. In spiritual community, the group members participate in creative spontaneity that is ordained by the Spirit of God. People get set free from personal struggles and nonbelievers receive Christ. Cell group meetings are only a form to help promote spiritual community.
Second, these churches have an intentional plan for training new cell group leaders. They train them in two areas: how to lead great cell group meetings and how to minister to group members between the meetings. New cell leaders require training in how to facilitate a meeting, how to ask good questions, how to prepare for the meeting, etc. (See Cell Group Leader Training by Scott Boren and Don Tillman for practical ways to train your cell group leaders.)
Third, these churches have developed regular support meetings that serve as an encouragement for current cell group leaders. These meetings range from dinners with awards ceremonies to doughnuts and discussion an hour before the Sunday service. Regardless, the churches that do the best job of growing cell groups do this on a monthly basis.
Fourth, these churches have developed coaches that support, mentor, and oversee the cell group leaders. In fact, the most important component for taking your groups to the next level is that of coaches. There is no one way to set up a coaching system. In some churches, the coaches oversee as many as twelve cell group leaders. In others, they limit the number to three.
By Scott Boren
Note: This article was taken from The Cell Group People website. For more info visit: The Cell Group People Christianity Today
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