Cell Church
"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
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
