CELL CHURCH

Cell Church

The Call for a good Cell Church is Simple: to follow the Will of God and His Precepts and Glorify Him in all Things that we do!

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as your self.” Mark 12:30-31

Cell Church Ideas

What is a Cell Church? It is placing the majority, all who will go, into small groups with trained and equipped leaders who operate in the Fruit of the Spirit for worship, biblical instruction, fellowship, prayer, encouragement, and ministry. This can be a standalone small church or a network of cells interconnected where the Sunday service is the weekly convention to praise and worship Christ the Lord and be further taught from the Word. Small groups can be the primary structure, care, and teaching machines in a growing healthy church, but only if it is focused on Christ and His Word and not on faulty and ever changing trends!

This is our calling. This is part of our richness in Christ. the reality of true spirituality, the Christian life, in relation to my separation from my fellowmen–including those fellow men who are my brothers and sisters in Christ–in the church as a whole and in the local congregation or other Christian group. It is not to be practiced in a dull, ugly way; there is to be a thing of beauty, observed by those within, and those outside. This is an important part in preaching the gospel to the humanity still in revolution against God; but more than this, it is the only thing that is right on the basis of the existence of the personal God and on the basis of what Christ did for us in history, on the cross. And having come this far, true spirituality–the Christian life–flows on into the total culture. -Francis Schaeffer (True Spirituality)

The Positive: Small groups are essential, and every Christian should be involved in one! This is a great model for knowing and growing in Christ! We can dig out an abundance of good stuff here and implement it for Christ’s glory.

The Negative: Many of the popular writers and visionaries on this are losing site of the main thing, Christ! Some of the emerging paradigms on this focus on unbiblical rhetoric such as humanistic philosophy, Word of Faith, Positive Confession, and Third Wave.

Such things miss the point and even slap our Lord in His face, seeking trends in the business community and modern social sciences or misguided research rather than the Word of God. This will be a fatal error to your spiritual growth and your church. This de-emphasizes biblical theology which leads to faulty spiritual growth and thus, discipleship and essential doctrine is left out and brings in a filling of fluff that emphasizes subjective experience and meeting "felt-needs” instead of our real need to know and grow in Christ and make Him truly known by our transformed lives. Do not to this to our Loving Lord and His Church; rather be a “Fruitful Bride.” (For more, see my uncle’s book, True Spirituality!)

Another problem in this cell church model is poor leadership. Unless the leaders are adequately trained, and good teaching and curriculum are used, the groups will become social in nature, and no real discipleship will result. Effective care and ministry will not happen. This model also over-emphasizes small groups to the detriment of other areas, such as other essential ministries and calls of the church.

Essence of a Healthy Cell Church

The cell is not to be independent—rather interdependent, in Christ and then in one another. It is basically a more intimate structure that can be a small church or a network of many cells to make a larger church or a larger church more effective.

• Focused on Jesus over all else!
• Focused on the Bible, not Personalities
• Focused on Discipleship and Spiritual Growth
• Developing Positive Relationships
• Empowering People for Life
• Participation in Ministry
• Developing Leaders
• Outreach and Missions
• Multiplication
• Networking with other Cells

As with developing any healthy church, this is about seeking and applying biblical principles rather than just models for ministry:

• Christ rather than Inclinations
• Biblical Principles rather than Trendy Models
• Life in Christ rather than Methods
• Godly Goals rather than Techniques
• Essence of Discipleship rather than Systems of Structure

The basic philosophy of the Cell Church is the priesthood of all believers

This is also called the “Meta Church (the biblical version).” This was partially developed at the Fuller Institute in Pasadena, where I was on staff. I am one of its original researchers and founders. I took material from the Early Church and the Book of Acts, and also based this on Serendipity, Son Life, and Campus Crusade materials. The purpose was to seek a more effective and intimate way to embrace His Way. (Meta means small).

The materials in our Small Groups Channel are also designed for developing a Cell Church. All the resources of this ministry also apply… Small Groups

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