From: jmrg9881@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Cell Group Churches -- contrasted with "normal" churches
Date: 9 Oct 92 08:24:30 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

markc@eomer.hw.stratus.com (Mark Christensen) writes:

>This is such a nice chart...how can one not just love it!  Unfortunately,
>it is deceiving.  The title 'CHURCH OF TODAY' should read 'SOME LOCAL CHURCHES
>OF TODAY'.  I read through the list of characteristics and found very little
>similarity to any church I've ever been a member of.

Heh, then you've been very fortunate.  :)

Instead of "some" local churches of today, I believe the word is "most".
Seriously.  I find that most churches, in genuine attempts to touch people,
get all involved in various programs.  Each program or "ministry" has its
own "script" (e.g., music ministry, Sunday school) which is understood by
the "participants", and this script serves to keep people from really
knowing what is going on inside of each other's lives and releasing the
kingdom of God into each other's needs through the gifts of the Spirit.

Here are some quotes from _Where Do We Go From Here?_ ("P.B.D." means
"Program Base Design"):

    In a sentence, the P.B.D. concept doesn't build _people_ on the
  foundation of Christ; it only builds _programs_.  The assumption is that
  the programs are necessary to build the people, but it just doesn't
  achieve this goal!
    The first thing a P.B.D. church looks for are _Specialists_ to direct
  the different programs of the church.  Even the smallest group will seek
  for a _Pastor-Specialist_ who can come and preach, teach, counsel, raise
  the budget, administer its spending, win the lost, and effectively manage
  the church schedule.  He is not particularly seen as an "equipper of the
  saints for the work of ministry;" instead, he is The Minister.  He does
  the things that professional clergymen do.  He preaches, marries, buries,
  visits the sick in the hospitals, pays courtesy calls to the elderly,
  consults with the deacons or elders, and---if the church can afford it---
  supervises the staff.  He is the primary victim of the P.B.D. church
  life...
    Yet, while he desires to reach the lost, he doesn't have time to know
  many of them.  Less than five out of a hundred P.B.D. pastors (or
  missionaries overseas) have as many as _three_ gold plated, certified,
  hell-raising unbelievers numbered among their close friends.  There isn't
  enough time in their busy week to _know_ the unconverted.  The entire
  congregation can thus assume that cultivating unreached persons is not a
  high priority for the Christian life, since their leader never produces a
  convert apart from his pulpit ministry.  With such a model, they also
  busy themselves with church tasks.

    With few or no exceptions, the Specialists involve no more than 15% of
  the total members as working volunteers.  The balance of the members are
  expected to attend the many functions which have been arranged for them...

>I also find that some of the characteristics listed under NT Church are not 
>necessarily true.  We don't know that the church at Corinth or Ephesus or
>other areas were small.  In fact, they may have been quite large.

Where did I ever say "small"?  The cells are small (6-12 people), but they
form the body.  My church currently has 45 small groups, and we hope by
God's grace to have 2000 small groups by the year 2000.  The largest church
in the world, numbering 600,000 in 1989, is built on cell groups.  Cell
group churches are not the same thing as "home churches"; the cells are not
independent.  The important thing is to acknowledge the fact that spiritual
growth and impartation of life values (not just information) *always* takes
place in small groups, even in churches without a single home fellowship.
If small groups of people are the basic building block of community, we
need to make it *fundamental* to our churches if we are serious about
reaching the lost and building up God's people for works of service.

-- 
Jon Reid    j-reid@uiuc.edu    GEnie: THE.REIDS
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."