HOME CELL GROUPS

Plus An Interview with Joel Comiskey

1. In the formation and direction of small groups the Senior Pastor will provide the
primary leadership with the assistance of an Assistant Pastor.
2. Leaders for these groups will be trained on the job after a brief orientation.
3. Some groups will meet once a week, others twice monthly. Leaders and assistant
leaders will be required to attend a monthly meeting. Once a quarter all groups will
be called together for a combined meeting at the church.
4. Each leader will have an assistant that will be considered an apprentice in
training, preparing for leadership in his or her own group within approximately 6
months.
5. The form of the meeting will be highly interactive in nature; that is, individual
members will be drawn out to participate in a meaningful way. Leaders will be
trained to move in this direction.
6. Each cell group will have a leader and assistant and host-hostess.
7. The goal for these groups will be to include up to 16 members with a constituency
of up to 25 in a group, with an average attendance of 10 to 12 per meeting.
8. When these groups grow beyond the size, a new cell will be formed with the
apprentice leading the new group into a new location with a new assistant to serve
both groups.
9. At each meeting, one empty chair will be set out to reinforce the idea that this is
an open group and efforts will be made to bring others in. Prayer time will include a
request that the Lord will enable the group to fill that chair.
10. The basic ingredients of each meeting will include some form of worship,
discipleship, fellowship, mission and "maintenance". The amount of these
components will vary from group to group, but the balance will be intentional.
11. Each group leader will keep track of up to 25 names of members and their
family members and be ready to provide care for them.
12. The small group movement will intentionally begin on a small scale rather then a
church wide "big bang" effort, and then be allowed to grow naturally.
13. Some present ministries will be directed into the formation of these groups, such
as present prayer groups or home Bible studies and perhaps the single adult
ministry and youth ministry.
14. An important goal of these small groups will be leadership development.
15. The small home cell groups will be viewed as the place where spiritually healthy
Christians are grown and then moved into the church program and ministry.
Leadership Expectations for Cell Groups
1. Leaders will be appointed by the pastor. No one will serve in leadership of a
qualified cell group except through the personal appointment by the pastor.
2. They will receive initial orientation in preparation for leadership.
3. Leaders will attend one leadership meeting per month. Attendance at this meeting
will be absolutely mandatory.
4. Each leader will be expected to have working with him or her an assistant who
will seen as an apprentice. This person will be chosen in consultation with the pastor
and will also attend leadership meetings.
5. The cell group leader will not use their own home for these meetings but will lead
meetings in another home.
6. Leaders will have the freedom to choose the teaching subjects with the approval
of the pastor.
7. Leaders will be willing for their group to be divided when the growth occurs to
make this necessary. Generally this will take place when the regular attendance
exceeds 12.
8. Leaders will be expected to file regular reports regarding the activity of the
group, attendance and evaluation.
9. Leaders will except ongoing guidance and training provided by the pastor as
needed. Leaders will see to it that their groups do not exclusive but rather always
welcoming new people and even making concerted effort to make sure that
continues to take place.
10. Leaders will provide the first caring contact when a member of their group has a
special need or emergency. Following that first contact, pastoral staff will be
available to provide further assistance.
11. Leaders will see to it that there is no borrowing or lending of money between
members of the group. Nor would there be any promotion of opportunities or sales
parties.
12. Each group under the guidance of its leader, will determine procedures for the
caring of children if that is a need for that particular group.
13. Leaders will provide an opportunity for an offering to be received at each
meeting. This offering would be counted by the host and/or hostess and brought to
the church in a special offering envelope and given in the Sunday offering,
designated from that particular cell group.
14. Leaders will seek to provide an atmosphere of care among the members so that
there will be prayer one for another as well as active assistance when that is needed.
15. When larger needs are apparent, the leader may make a benevolence request for
the church to give assistance according to the guidelines of the church benevolence
fund.
16. Approximately once every 3 months the leader will encourage his or her group
to attend a combined meeting with cell group leaders and members from other
groups. This will be for the purpose of providing inspiration through singing,
testimonies, discussion and instruction.
17. When a leader fails to perform his or her ministry according to the guidelines
and expectations of the pastor, the leader will be spoken to directly, either by the
pastor, or his designate (with the pastor's full knowledge), and the leader will be
willing to relinquish responsibility without further process.
Interview with Joel Comiskey
Joel Comiskey is a pastor in a cell church in Quito, Ecuador and has a Ph.D. from
Fuller.
Q: How did you get into cell groups? Why are you so passionate about them?
A: God truly led me into small group ministry. The first time I sensed God’s calling
in my life was when He told me to lead a small group. My first ministry was leading
a cell group among family members and friends in my parent’s home for 2 years
when I was 20. I was about 3 years old in the Lord. I’m so passionate about them
because small groups allow a church to reach the lost and care for them and disciple
them. Also, I think it helps a church or ministry to get back to the New Testament.
And they emphasize the priesthood of all believers. I was able to use so many gifts
and leadership qualities —pastoring, teaching, counseling, administration,
visitation, etc. It’s an excellent place to prepare and train leaders.
Q: What are the essential differences between a traditional ministry and a true cell
ministry?
A: A traditional ministry calls for people to come to the building to receive help. The
building and programs associated with the building are the main focus. Basically,
it’s a "come here" strategy. Cell ministry, on the other hand, goes where the people
live, work, and associate. It’s a ministry that has a penetration strategy, which then
brings the fruit of the harvest to the church for celebration. Another major
emphasis is how the church views members. In the traditional church, the goal is for
members to come to church and listen to the gifted preacher. In cell ministry, the
goal is to convert those sitting in the pew on Sunday into cell leaders who minister.
Q: What do you say to those who charge that cell groups don't provide in-depth
discipleship?
A: I would tend to agree with them. A small or cell group doesn’t provide all the
aspects of discipleship. It emphasizes outreach. I think the small group leader needs
to individually visit, call, and spend additional time one-on-one getting to know the
members of the groups —that’s where discipleship occurs. In cell churches,
discipleship comes from the equipping track and the care structure for those who
are leading cell groups. I would say that cell groups are leader breeders. You need
to get them in, but also to move them out. Make sure the cell groups have a focus on
cell multiplication. A danger can be on the focus too much on themselves. Healthy
groups can stagnate. Make sure the groups are multiplying. New leaders do need to
be trained. Most churches have equipping tracks in place. The mother cell leader
would need to supervise a new leader. People will not lead small groups until they
are presently participating in their small groups.
Q: Some say that cell groups promote believers who are too young to be in a position
of spiritual authority? How do you answer this?
A: There is a big difference between leading a cell group and being a full-time
pastor or elder in a church. When Paul and other Bible authors talk about the office
of the bishop, they were talking about top-level leaders who would certainly require
additional leadership qualities. We shouldn’t place those same qualities on a
facilitator of a small group who is seeking to win his or her friends to Christ. A
person grows in maturity and spiritual authority while he or she is exercising God-
given gifts. This is part of the maturing process. We must also be careful not to tell
zealous believers that they must wait for years of training before they can minister.
So often in the process of waiting, they lose contact with their non-Christian friends.
Q: What makes for a good cell group leader?
A: An effective cell leader is one who depends on God on a daily basis. They
maintain an active devotional life with Jesus Christ and minister with God’s
authority. Those in the group recognize that the leader spends time with God and
hears His voice. Intimacy with God is the key to effective leadership. Another
important quality of an effective leader is willingness to work hard. Effective leaders
are diligent. They make visits and phone calls to members of the group whether or
not they feel like it.
Q: What can leaders do to train people to be fruitful?
A: Leaders must model the life they want others to live. They must allow cell
members to participate in the cell. Allow a potential member to lead the worship
time, the icebreaker time, and even the lesson time. Afterwards, meet with the
person, offer positive comments and feedback. Continue the process until the person
is leading his or her own cell group. Give the potential leader some type of training.
The training track will vary from church to church, but a new leader should know
basic Christian doctrine, how to have a devotional time, how to evangelize, and then
how to lead a cell group.
Q: It is hard to change a traditional ministry into a true cell ministry? Why?
A: No one likes to change. We become locked into our programs. Some pastors are
hesitant about releasing their lay people to do the work of the ministry. They’re
afraid. It’s less demanding to simply ask people to come to church on Sunday
morning and possibly be involved in a few other programs when time permits. True
cell ministry asks each church member to be involved in cell ministry with the goal
of actually leading a cell group. This requires a greater time commitment and a
greater commitment to people and New Testament community. Many will resist this
and even leave the church.
Q: What are some of the mistakes beginners make?
A: Lack of proper care for cell leaders; asking the cell leader to do too much
(prepare own lessons, etc.); and not laying a firm foundation. If cell ministry is just
one ministry among many, it will probably die out.
Q: What is the first step you recommend a person take who is looking into starting a
cell ministry?
A:
(1) Establish a prayer base;
(2) Make sure the senior pastor is 100% committed;
(3) Study growing cell churches;
(4) Make an analysis of your own church in order to see the needs; people won’t
change unless they sense a need for change;
(5) Envision what you want to become;
(6) Patiently win the influential people in your church or organization who you’ll
need to make it happen;
(7) Start with a model cell group. The senior pastor or senior leader leads this
model cell group. Some people call it a turbo group. The goal is that each
member of this model cell group will eventually lead their own cell group.
Q: Some may say the cell group strategy works better overseas than in America.
Have you found that to be true, and if so, what are the challenges and keys to
unlocking cell group ministries in the U.S.?
A: The small group explosion is alive and well in the U.S. Note the following in an
introduction to my next book on the small group explosion in the U.S.: Seventy-five
million adult Americans (not including all teenagers and children in groups) are
meeting regularly for some kind of small group interaction and support. There are
some 300,000 churches in the U.S. but more than three million in small groups.
Seven percent of those surveyed who are not currently in a small group plan on
joining one within the next year. With the interest in small groups mounting
continually, especially in the face of an ever-increasing impersonal Internet society,
people are hungry to understand the dynamics of small groups--and even how to
lead one. I would also say that the small group emphasis is probably the most
effective on university campuses. In general, while the small group movement is
EXPLODING overseas, that’s not to say that small group ministry and even cell
church ministry is not alive and well in the U.S. (Bethany World Prayer Center
hosts 1500 pastors and key leaders each year for their cell church conferences).
Q: What was your experience with university students in Ecuador at El Batan
Church like?
A: When my wife and I first started leading university students in Ecuador, we
started gathering them in a large group. We found that although they had a good
time, we weren’t preparing new leaders. They were slipping through the cracks. We
found small groups gave them the opportunity to exercise their gifts. The university
students were like a pilot project in our church. That’s what’s happening in Bogota.
The cell strategy is modeled in the university students first. In our church now, The
Republic Church, I’m not the minister of youth. We have another pastor who’s over
the network of small groups. He has 40 groups under his care, and 30 of those
groups meet on university campuses. We’re seeing exciting fruit from the university
groups. It’s giving us a new vision. We’ve seen a number of students saved.
In Bogota, they lead small groups anywhere and everywhere. I’ve seen small groups
meet outside a stadium on a Saturday, in parks, and just about anywhere. There are
8000 cell groups just among the youth. We’re talking maybe 17 to 25 maximum,
maybe 23. Every Saturday night, 18,000 come to the stadium for worship. It’s a real
harvest there. When people get saved, they’re immediately funneled into a small
group. It’s kind of the in thing now, because of the harvest among young people, for
parents to send troubled youth into these cell groups. The in music in their culture is
now Christian music.
Q: What do you think would be the keys to transforming small groups into effective
cell groups on universities in America?
A: It’s important to understand the nature of a cell. It’s constantly multiplying in
the human body. It needs to be outward focused. It needs to have a genetic code
within it which tells it to multiply. It needs to have the focus on multiplication. It
doesn’t just involve evangelism; it involves preparing new leaders, and discipleship.
It involves a variety of disciplines. The overriding theme needs to be multiplication
for small group leaders.
Q: What would you say to 300 university missionaries about implementing cell
groups on universities, many with 20,000-50,000 students enrolled?
A: I think you have an incredible opportunity. It’s exciting what God is doing in
your midst. Remember the words of Christ, "The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few." Raise up new leaders and release them. You need to be willing to
risk for Jesus. Determine what discipleship means to you, and lead your cell groups
with boldness and confidence. Make sure that you’re always preparing new leaders.
Focus on multiplication. In other words, don’t focus on the group as an end in itself.
Think of the group as leader breeders. You must mentor and train others to lead
new groups!
Tracking down this former pastor turned missionary turned Ph.D. student who
traveled around the world and wrote a book that everybody’s reading is no easy
feat! He surfaced in Ecuador, where he and his wife and 3 daughters serve as
missionaries at The Republic Church, a place where cell groups are making inroads
into the community and universities in Quito. Besides being a really nice guy and
knowing a whole lot about cell groups,
Joel Comiskey offers great resources through his website:
http://geocities.com/joelcomiskey/