Ecclesiology: Cell Church (Laurence Singlehurst)
Discussion Point #2
What are you drawn to in the concept of Cell Church?
What worries you in the concept of Cell Church?
How could it support the mission and ministry in your appointment?
posted by ETLnetwork at 7:32 AM
8 Comments:
What I am drawn to in the concept of Cell Church;
It provides mutual support and accountability.
People are being mobilised.
It encourages discipleship and evangelism.
People are seeking to live out the great commandment and the great commission which is the biblical pattern.
What worries me in the concept of Cell Church;
It may not suit everyone. It may not be for every church. Depending on the congregation there may be resistance.
It could start off as a cell but move into a bible study group or fellowship group.
The group dynamics could create problems e.g. a dominant personality taking over.
It could become a clique/exclusive, become insular, and see itself as no longer part of the corps.
It could support the mission and ministry in my appointment;
By running alongside the corps activities.
Because it means it is not all about the leadership, people being totally dependant on the leader’s ministry, vision etc.
It encourages participation, people are being mobilised and are being given responsibility for their own spiritual growth / for reaching out, as well as receiving from their leader. This in turn leads to people who are active instead of passive, who can better support the leader’s ministry.
It supports a mission focus since people are reaching out to those in their local community. This in turn may lead to church growth.
Yvonne
Cell-Church Discussion 2
Cell- Church is a good way of mobilising a group of people to reach out in love into their communities -To love God each other and the lost . It gives responsibility to all and helps every believer to have a clear focus in mission . It is a good way of making Disciples and offers love and support to new members in a smaller setting .It can meet a more specific need than the main Church and can support the main Church as well .
I believe there are dangers as well as benefits. If people are unhappy with Cell-church then they may become a destructive force within the group.Members may become a clique and exclude members of the main Church community . Cell Church can be a rigid model where groups are forced to split when they are to big . This fly's in the face of the fact that people are social beings and form relationships and these splits may harm this . Not all Christians enjoy small group settings and may see their ministry outside of the group meeting non-Christians in the community .
Overall I believe Cell Church is a positive tool of mission and can help to engage Church communities with the real issues in our World . Cell -Church cannot be imposed on a corps and I know my Corps would be wary of such a venture due to their age group and their focus on organised church. However, I believe it would be a good thing for them as it would empower them and help to focus our corps on the community we serve. The family nature of the Cell- would also be good for my elderly community. However, I believe it would soon turn into a fellowship group without the right leadership team.It would be difficult to help them see that it would not be officer led.
Chris Hall
Certainly in this current appointment the concept of cell church was unacceptable to the aging congregation. Any form of small group was a threat to their privacy and they felt it would have become a clique. Actually what they did not realise is that Sundays had become a holy clique.
Having been 'brought up' in a corps which had (at its peak) 6 small groups all geographically arranged with a 'teaching leader' and a pastoral carer I can testify personally to great benefits.
Also, during my corps placement from college I was very happy to go to a corps that in my mind is like the Early Church, having cell group meetings in the week and a corporate act of worship on a Sunday. This corps certainly was firstly, Christ focussed, mission focused and had a yearning to see the 'lost' of their community and work-places get saved; this was what I identified as real church.
For some time I have felt convicted by the Great Commission and the Acts 2:42 Church and really believed that my new appointment should reflect this. Berwick does just that . . .
I am delighted to be going to an appointment that has a core of visionaries who have no building (at the moment) but a heart for knowing Jesus more, living out His will and seeking the lost. The 'members' are not Salvationists and are not distracted by any set ways from the past. I feel quite passionate about small groups within this fellowship and can see that this may well be a possibility.
I understand that college is often referred to as the 'college community' - because of its unique location and living arrangements, but I understand from my new appointment that the people see themselves as community of believers and I believe that through cell groups this could enhance their sense of being in community.
I am aware that as in any community problems will arise.
Any kind of change takes time to comprehend and make adjustments but in this appointment the people are soon to be without any base and the current leader has been preparing them for this undertaking.
I am excited by the response from the members that they long to share their vision and are longing to share in small groups - what they are not aware of is 'what cell church actually is'.
There are concerns, firstly, that it may be that not all people will want to attend, that they most definitely will be Scripture based and that we don't become sidelined into something else. I do think that within the context of the people gathered each group must also find its level of discipling etc.
I do think for the people in this new appointment the cell church approach will give every person value to take a role within the group.
I do hope and pray that the Great Commission and the Acts 2:42 Church will be our model for the corps in Berwick.
Unfortunately I was unable to access this lecture as a 'codec' was needed and I couldn't access this via the web. Having said that I am familiar with the concept of cell church. I can see that it may not suit everyone and I do feel that it is something that the church/corps as a whole needs to be engaged with. With some people it may be the case of exploring and explaining the concept with them. I can see that problems may occur and cliques could be formed but this can happen in church anyway! A positive can be the fact that by someone joining cell church they can be nurtured, cared for and looked after in a smaller setting. In a larger church group new people can get lost if we're not careful as it is easy to think someone else is looking after them.
I love the concept of loving God, each other and the lost world. I know, this is the overall concept for every church, which form maybe used, but I think cell groups provice a more comfortable atmosphere for incarnating and living out this concept. I remember reading about the Methodists: having small groups to worship, learn and confess.
I do not worry, but I wonder whether these cell groups will turn into real 'mission teams', in the sense that they really put their shareded thoughts and prayers and confessions into action.
Of course for the SA that are other challenges as well. How does it fit in the actual structure of a corps? Cell groups do underline our mission, but do we allow it into our organisation?
A danger could be -like every other model - that we lift it up as a holy method; thinking that by using cell groups we can turn the decline of christians (or members or soldiers). Using it as a magic strategy would be wrong.
I think cell groups would support the people of the corps extremely in their spiritual growth and awareness of their mission. It would firstly bring people more and more together and after a while I think a change in thinking and attitude would be noticible. I would encourage cell groups in our corps.
Friends of ours started a house church two years ago and I have to say that I am a little bit jealous, because they can do practically anything they want in Jesus name without having to conform to any traditions.
The biggest challenge they are facing is the lack of outreach in evangelism and social action. But they are addressing this at the moment.
We can pose all kinds of objections why we should not do this, but I still believe it is the most authentic and effective method (bad word) to enlarge God's territory. People in cells make mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. I'd love to see cells in action in TSA in the Netherlands.
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ah the tension between emerging and institutional church :)
"they can do practically anything they want in Jesus name without having to conform to any traditions..." I wonder what the dangers could be?
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