Cell Church

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Say for example you were to use www.thisGospel.info for miracle healing outreaches and 1000 people committed their life to Christ in 1 year.  How would you handle making disciples of that many fish?  Church planting models like Cell Church answer these types of questions by providing a structure (or foundation) for rapid sustainable growth while maintaining family aspects such as intimacy and accountability. 

 

Many cry out for revival on one hand but lack the apostolic foundation, ministry pattern, knowledge, training, and authority to handle new mass conversions when they occur.  This may be the reason why in some cases they do not occur, or occur only for a season.

John 21

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

 1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus[b]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”   “No,” they answered. 6 He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.[c] 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

 

God is not unwilling to send revival, whatever revival is.  God already did his part over 2000 years ago.

 

John 4:35
Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

 

Is it 4 months until revival?  Open your eyes and look on the right side of the boat.  The fish are all there.  Stop looking in the Church and wondering why the harvest is not there.  The answer is obvious:

 

Luke 10

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

 1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

 

The harvest is not in the Church until you train and send workers to net them in. 

 

The Net

 

The question is this:  Are you willing to follow His instructions to prepare for the Harvest (casting your net on the right side of the boat).  There is no shortage of fish swimming around next to the right side of the boat.  The questions for most Christians today go like this: Does the church even have a net?  Do they care to have a net?  Are they aware they should have a net?  What is a net? 

 

Romans 15:20

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

 

A net is the first apostolic foundation that an unbeliever will be exposed to. 

 

A net is like a cell membrane.  It keeps what you want in (fish) and filters other things (water) out.  If your net is too small or thin, too many fish will break it.  If you do not have enough leaders trained up, you will have difficulty sustaining revival. A church is either growing or dying.  The net must be large enough to accommodate growth. 

 

Luke 10

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

 1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

 

A net is made from people, and is either growing or dying.  Notice that Christ tells the 72 to ask God to send even more workers than them.  But how?

 

G12

 

The “Group of 12” Cell Church model is a church-planting pattern taken from Jesus that rapidly trains leaders to accommodate rapid multiplicative growth while maintaining intimate family dynamics. 

 

Mark 3:14 English Standard Version (ESV)

And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach

 

Ideally, your 12 disciples become Apostles by training their disciples to also plant their own Cell churches; and so on it goes, like cells of a plant or animal, multiplying indefinitely.

 

 

The family structure is shown in the diagram from left to right as per the 3 generations displayed above.  It was in this spirit that Paul wrote to Timothy, in whose charge he had left the Church he planted in Corinth.

 

1 Corinthians 4:15
Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

 

There is one-year Cell Group curriculum available in English to plant this type of movement at http://www.g12.me/en/books. I’ve never seen it, but the church that used it grew from 0-500 in one year and it sounded like they were operating in the gifts of the Spirit. 

 

5-fold Ministry and reality

If all 12 of your 12 disciples became Apostles (multiplied) and so on, you would quickly have thousands in your network of house churches.  I know of another denomination that expects all adult males to plant churches among unchurched, and have their converts do the same.  They are still alive.  It has not killed them.  They do not use the word Apostle.  They use the word man.  I respect them greatly.  As for me, lets be honest, if God gave me 12 disciples, I’d be happy to find 2 or 3 apostles in there.  5 and He is trying to tell me something.  10 makes it obvious that I was only witnessing to apostles.  12 means 2 of them were already churched.

 

Matthew 4:21

18And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

 

Jesus did not call lazy fishermen or ones that were looking for fish by staring at water.  James and John became pillars of the church because they kept the net prepared.  That is why God put fish in it.  That is why it did not break, like every revival that dissipates.  Their revival is still going because it was not a revival at all.  They obeyed the great commission to make disciples of all nations. 

 

Matthew 28

18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 

It cost them their lives.  This is true revival.  Signs and wonders followed them as they followed this call. 

 

Are all Apostles?

Eagerly desire the greater five-fold gifts, but also acknowledge that a cow don’t make ham.  You can train and impart, but only God creates each person with a personality and usually centers them on a 5 fold ministry gifting.  In house or cell church you actually get to know people and have to deal with real issues.  It helps to know the personalities of each of the 5 folds, so that you don’t take things personally.  If you know you have an Apostle on your hands, encourage him to plant a pioneer cell church out of unchurched people or preferably unbelievers with no previous Christian foundation.  Then he can build the foundation. 

 

Romans 15:20

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

 

Don’t lend them a teacher from the mother cell, unless you know those two are not arguing over doctrine.  Apostles are very intense confrontational people and they need a challenge so a relatively empty cell will give them that. 

 

1 Corinthians 3:10
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.

 

Baby (Pioneer) Cells

A completely empty cell is too difficult for most.  Jesus sent them out in twos and Paul would not go without a companion.  Perhaps lend him an evangelist or prophet from the mother cell until he can bring those gifts out of his converts.  Once new converts flow in, you might lend him a Pastor, if the pastor is on board with the Apostle and he wants the help.  Per 1 Cor 3:10, the apostle might leave that cell with that pastor if those few empty spots are not filled with a pastor or apostle. 

 

Apostles and evangelists may both have trouble relating to the body of Christ.  There may be weeks when the both the Pastor and Prophet opt-out in part because they need a break from either the Evangelist, Apostle or both.  In that case, the Evangelist and Apostle would also take a break and focus on their strengths by outreaching together during their cell meeting. Then they would attend their parent cell for church.  They might also keep this pattern until there is a response to the outreaches. 

 

Preparing the net

 

At this mother church meeting, the apostle (father) from the mother cell can make Pioneer team/cell adjustments as needed.  This is called mending the net.  The unity (team, doctrinal, etc.) is the strength of the bonds that hold the net together.  You see team unity in verse 1, and doctrinal unity under the apostles teaching in verse 2.  Then the net is built in verse 4. 

 

1 Peter 2

 1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

 

Each stone in the house equates to a knot in the net.  The string between the knots is the unity of the cell/team. 

 

 

God fills properly thrown and maintained nets

Unity is one of a few main factors that will determine response to outreach. 

 

  1. Size –
    1. Zero - Most nets are zero in size because they have no structure, or cells.  In other words, they do not exist. 
    2. Full already – no cells, or full (12 member +) cells
    3. Extensible – If you have 6 cell groups each with 6 members, you are ready for the double blessing of fish.  Provided other factors, God will fill these nets.
  2. Direction – He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” 
    1. Methods – whether treasure hunts, Miracle Healing Outreaches, or spontaneous evangelism, wait for the Holy Spirit to guide you. 
    2. The primary impediment to remove in order to bring in more fish is the missing or broken net.  If you focus on this (building the church 1 Peter 2:4 above), you will find little need to worry about outreach because God fills properly thrown and maintained nets.
  3. Strength – Unity
    1. Mend the net – If your meetings and lives are full of life, joy, and peace, visitors will return.

 

As you can see, there are many reasons why you want to launch your pioneer cell and begin outreaching well before you reach the limit of 12.  If you provide these open slots and designate them as for newcomers, they will surely be filled. 

 

Acts 2:46-47 (KJV)

 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

This is one way to structure your cell church for rapid sustainable growth.  Due to small size, cells can provide family aspects such as intimacy, friendship, and accountability.

 

Acts 2:41-43

New International Version (NIV)

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                       

 


 

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