I'm guest-blogging over on Joel Comiskey's web site. So if you're here to read my blog read my thoughts there for the next couple of weeks! Each time one is posted, I'll link to it here so you can read it:
http://joelcomiskeygroup.com/blog_2/2011/10/04/the-meeting-place/
Showing posts with label cell church myths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell church myths. Show all posts
Is the Cell Church about Control?
Outsiders reading about the model and proponents of other small group models (those models that are far more attractional for consumer Christians) often think: "The cell model is controlling. We don't want that here."
This could not be further from the truth. Cell based churches provide the cell group environment and supportive coaches for cell leaders TO PROTECT them as they go about their missional calling. In every cell church I have researched and visited around the world, no one is forced to be a member of a group or a certain group. No group is forced to multiply either. Group closure? Groups in these churches are rarely closed by leadership because of the damage it does to the individual members and the leader.
Now when a leader is found in sin and unrepentant, they're moved out of their role until they begin to walk with Christ in that area of their life instead of run their own way and direction. But this should happen in any model of church life found on this planet (although it's rare).
NOTE: While some second generation G-12 model churches have become very controlling and even cult-like in their practices, one must not throw the cell church movement baby out with this dirty bathwater—and it is indeed dirty bathwater! I am no fan of what a few of the sons and daughters of Cesar Castellanos are doing in their own churches or modeling for others to follow.
Exoskeleton vs. Endoskeleton = Control vs. Protection
I have a marine aquarium in my office, which I've maintained myself for fifteen years. In it, I have fish and corals. The fish are all endoskeleton creatures, with their supportive structure in the middle and unprotected flesh on the outside. My hard stony corals are just the opposite. The flesh is in the inside and peeks out of bits of the outer skeleton.
Endoskeleton animals grow their bones to a certain point and stop growing. Exoskeleton creatures can continue to add the exterior protective and structural support to any size possible!
If your concept for church structures is birthed out of an endoskeleton paradigm (by first creating the structure and then inviting people to attach themselves to it) you will view the cell model as controlling. And it will be if you maintain this mindset.
However, if you think about cell groups and cell group oversight like protective exoskeletal structure for missional living that is already in existence, it becomes protective and opens up an unlimited plan of expansion.
So let me ask you a pointed question: Have you been thinking about cell groups and cell ministry like a fish or a coral?
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This could not be further from the truth. Cell based churches provide the cell group environment and supportive coaches for cell leaders TO PROTECT them as they go about their missional calling. In every cell church I have researched and visited around the world, no one is forced to be a member of a group or a certain group. No group is forced to multiply either. Group closure? Groups in these churches are rarely closed by leadership because of the damage it does to the individual members and the leader.
Now when a leader is found in sin and unrepentant, they're moved out of their role until they begin to walk with Christ in that area of their life instead of run their own way and direction. But this should happen in any model of church life found on this planet (although it's rare).
NOTE: While some second generation G-12 model churches have become very controlling and even cult-like in their practices, one must not throw the cell church movement baby out with this dirty bathwater—and it is indeed dirty bathwater! I am no fan of what a few of the sons and daughters of Cesar Castellanos are doing in their own churches or modeling for others to follow.
Exoskeleton vs. Endoskeleton = Control vs. Protection
I have a marine aquarium in my office, which I've maintained myself for fifteen years. In it, I have fish and corals. The fish are all endoskeleton creatures, with their supportive structure in the middle and unprotected flesh on the outside. My hard stony corals are just the opposite. The flesh is in the inside and peeks out of bits of the outer skeleton.
Endoskeleton animals grow their bones to a certain point and stop growing. Exoskeleton creatures can continue to add the exterior protective and structural support to any size possible!
If your concept for church structures is birthed out of an endoskeleton paradigm (by first creating the structure and then inviting people to attach themselves to it) you will view the cell model as controlling. And it will be if you maintain this mindset.
However, if you think about cell groups and cell group oversight like protective exoskeletal structure for missional living that is already in existence, it becomes protective and opens up an unlimited plan of expansion.
So let me ask you a pointed question: Have you been thinking about cell groups and cell ministry like a fish or a coral?
.
.
.
Cell group multiplication myths and misstatements - Here's the truth!
I've read and heard some jaw-dropping statements about how and why a cell group multiplies. Some pastors have used these statements as weapons of mass destruction in their churches when launching cell groups or attempting a transition to cells. Opponents of the model have hand-selected these dogmatic statements and used them to discount the model and the movement, characterizing it as controlling or inflexible and focused on the cell structure instead of the reason for the structure, all of which is quite far from the truth. Yet when one knows the operational realities within cell churches around the world, the following inaccurate or partially true statement simply hold no water:
"Cell groups must multiply in six months or less"
Some cell groups in some churches may have multiplied in six months or less, but you will probably not find this to be the norm in successful cell-based churches. Push the pastor and he'll admit, "We do have groups that have been together longer than one year." Rational expectations for sending out people from one group to plant a new group is 9-18 months. When groups multiply, it's because the sending and leaving members of the group are highly missional individuals who feel an urgency to do so, even though it may cause some temporary relational discomfort. In other words, they're compelled to start new groups by the Spirit of God, not a pastor or coach mandating, "your group dynamics are suffering—you people (pointing to half the group) must meet elsewhere in X weeks as a new group."
"Cell groups multiply by half the group leaving to form a new group"
Once again, some pastors may write or say this is what their groups do on a routine basis, but you will not find this to be the norm if you were to study their church by interviewing group leaders and members. The truth is far less like a mandated divorce and far more like growing up and moving out of the house. Three or four people from a group who have reached friends for Christ are ready to start a new group and frankly, it would be less time consuming to be on their own... so they do it with the blessing of the leadership of the church. This is far less painful than splitting the group in two or forcing the members of a group to choose whether to stay or go because the group has grown too large or been together for too long of a period.
"It's the cell leader's job to raise up someone and train them to lead a new group"
This is a half-truth that would put far too much pressure on the group leader and is simply not true at face value. The coach over the group befriends potential leaders from within his or her groups and encourages them to lead out. The coach also works with the group leader, helping them back off to give the potential leaders room to grow by serving and facilitating meetings. The pastors on staff train the future leaders. The existing leader does his or her part to impart vision for future leadership by giving responsibility to members of the group and encourages them to learn by doing. However, he or she is not solely responsible for finding, developing, training, and releasing a new leader so the group can multiply. Cell group leadership development is a team-based activity. In other words, it takes a village to raise a cell leader.
If you want to learn more about how healthy group multiply, when they multiply, and why they multiply, I highly recommend this book. It also contains other illuminating discussions about other myths surrounding a decentralized strategy for church life organized around holistic small groups or cell groups.
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"Cell groups must multiply in six months or less"
Some cell groups in some churches may have multiplied in six months or less, but you will probably not find this to be the norm in successful cell-based churches. Push the pastor and he'll admit, "We do have groups that have been together longer than one year." Rational expectations for sending out people from one group to plant a new group is 9-18 months. When groups multiply, it's because the sending and leaving members of the group are highly missional individuals who feel an urgency to do so, even though it may cause some temporary relational discomfort. In other words, they're compelled to start new groups by the Spirit of God, not a pastor or coach mandating, "your group dynamics are suffering—you people (pointing to half the group) must meet elsewhere in X weeks as a new group."
"Cell groups multiply by half the group leaving to form a new group"
Once again, some pastors may write or say this is what their groups do on a routine basis, but you will not find this to be the norm if you were to study their church by interviewing group leaders and members. The truth is far less like a mandated divorce and far more like growing up and moving out of the house. Three or four people from a group who have reached friends for Christ are ready to start a new group and frankly, it would be less time consuming to be on their own... so they do it with the blessing of the leadership of the church. This is far less painful than splitting the group in two or forcing the members of a group to choose whether to stay or go because the group has grown too large or been together for too long of a period.
"It's the cell leader's job to raise up someone and train them to lead a new group"
This is a half-truth that would put far too much pressure on the group leader and is simply not true at face value. The coach over the group befriends potential leaders from within his or her groups and encourages them to lead out. The coach also works with the group leader, helping them back off to give the potential leaders room to grow by serving and facilitating meetings. The pastors on staff train the future leaders. The existing leader does his or her part to impart vision for future leadership by giving responsibility to members of the group and encourages them to learn by doing. However, he or she is not solely responsible for finding, developing, training, and releasing a new leader so the group can multiply. Cell group leadership development is a team-based activity. In other words, it takes a village to raise a cell leader.
If you want to learn more about how healthy group multiply, when they multiply, and why they multiply, I highly recommend this book. It also contains other illuminating discussions about other myths surrounding a decentralized strategy for church life organized around holistic small groups or cell groups.
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.
.
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