A Cell Church is built on the principle that all believers are ministers and that every believer should perform the work of the ministry. According to Ephesians 4:11-16 “…God has provided apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service.”
Such a church is not built around the assembling of all its members, but rather the clustering of believers in “Basic Christian Communities” or “Cell Groups”
Each believer is equipped to do the work of ministry through the Cell Groups. The Cell Groups may cluster for Sunday Celebrations and groups socials. The life of the church is in its Cell Groups, not in a building. While the church has weekly worship events, the focus is always kept on the Cell Groups.
Definition:
Cells are the organisms of the body of believers in small groups for the purpose of worship, experiencing God, ministering to one another, ministering to, and evangelizing the community.
Purpose:
- To create a Christian fellowship with one another and God that lives among the yet non-Christian community;
- To let the Light of Christ shine through each member in order to touch the lives of those around them;
- To bring them to the feet of Jesus and the fellowship of Christ’s body the church; and
- To teach them to walk in Christ’s steps.
Basic Features of a Cell Church:
A Cell Church is people centered not on programs.
The focus of the church is to meet the intimate needs of its members and non-Christians.
A Cell Church is community centered not in the building.
The ministry of the church is decentralized and occurs in the homes and lives of church members and in the community.
The cell church still has buildings, but the focal point of the church is the Cell Groups.
The Cell Church has a go structure.
The church is organized to go out to meet and reach non-Christians where they live.
The church strongly emphasizes “Lifestyle or Friendship Evangelism.”
1. Make a friend.
2. Be a friend.
3. Lead a friend to Christ.
A Cell Church is organized for ministry to people through the use of spiritual gifts.
Each believer is encouraged to discover, develop, and use their spiritual gifts in the context of their Cell Group.
Strong emphasis is placed upon learning by doing.
Cell Church members have more time to build relationships with and minister to non-Christians.
There is less emphasis on meetings/committees.
The Cell Church is patterned after the New Testament church.
Its leadership style is the servant leader (John 13).
Every member is a minister.
The priesthood of all believers is foundational to the cell church.
1Pe.2:9 is the pattern for all members to be priests for the purpose of proclaiming Christ.
The Cell Church emphasizes relational evangelism.
This involves building relationships with individuals BEFORE leading a person to Christ
This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 9:45 AM and is filed under Cell Group Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
