From: jmrg9881@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Cell Churches (was: The purpose of meetings of the local church)
Date: 11 Jan 93 08:38:47 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

abigail@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca (Shawn Abigail) writes:

>I have read a couple of postings about small group fellowships,
>and have been in a church that tried out "SGFs".

Here it is important to distinguish between a church *with* small groups
and a Small Group Church (or Cell Church).  I don't mean to sound all-wise
and arrogant, but a church which simply "tries out" small groups usually
adds them on to their other programs; the actual nature of the church isn't
changed very much.  A Small Group Church, on the other hand, is (as I am
only beginning to discover) truly a different lifestyle and a different
idea of "church".


>I am excited at the idea of "home churches", where the whole church meets
>in a home.

Again, another contrast: "home churches" are just as you describe, the
whole church meets in a home.  In a Small Group Church, though, the small
groups are not isolated or entirely autonomous.  Using Ralph Neighbour's
terminology, there are three types of groups in a Cell Church: cells,
congregations, and celebrations.  Cells are the small groups which meet in
homes.  Congregations are regional gatherings.  Celebrations are the whole
church gathering together.

Right now in my church the small groups are not organized geographically,
so we don't have congregations.  Every Sunday morning, though, we gather
together to celebrate what God is doing and to be taught from the Word.


>I am also excited at the idea of evangelistic home Bible studies, for the
>purpose of reaching out to the lost.

Such evangelistic Bible studies are distinct from the small groups of
believers, though.


>However... the idea of small group fellowships does not appeal
>to me, because it seems to divide the church.

It all depends on how it's done, of course.  An important question which
shapes the nature of any church is: What is our vision?  What is our
central purpose?  In a Small Group Church, the small groups themselves are
not the vision or the focus -- they are the *means*.  The vision statement
which my church has chosen is "To serve God and His unchangeable purpose --
advancing the Kingdom -- through a Small Group strategy in a contemporary
and supernatural manner!"

I have seen more unity in my church since we began transitioning to the
Small Group Church paradigm than ever before.  The whole church is focused
on one direction, one purpose, and it runs through every small group, every
pastor, every administrative decision.


>If there is a problem in a local church with believers being distant from
>each other, it must be dealt with, but the best way of dealing with it is
>not to split up the church into small groups.

This is a problem, but what I see as a more significant problem is that in
almost all churches, 10-15% of the people are doing almost all of the work.
This is a travesty.  One of the main purposes of the church is to equip the
saints to minister.  The Cell Church model is remarkably suited for this.


>One of the big justifications for SGFs is that it gives us a
>non-threatening church meeting to invite friends and neighbours to.

Well... sort of, but not really.  The evangelistic emphasis is on building
relationships with unbelievers.  In general, it seems the longer you are a
Christian, the fewer non-Christian friends you have.  A Small Group Church
seeks to reverse this trend.  And rather than just sharing a gospel
outline, evangelism is done in a seeminly slower way: get to know them, get
to love them, pray for them daily, spend time together regularly.  In the
context of relationship and hospitality, unbelievers will *see* the gospel
in our lives as well as hear it from our lips.

Then, once they're interested, seekers are welcome to the small group
meetings.  But it's not like "this is a non-threatening church meeting" --
again, it's a different idea of church altogether.  The seeker will
experience the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit as each
believer exercises their spiritual gifts to edify the group.


>The question I would like to ask is, what is the purpose of
>meetings of the local church?  I am not asking what the purpose
>of the local church is!  One of the purposes of the local church
>is evangelism, but I can find no evidence from Scripture that one
>of the purposes of MEETINGS of the local church is evangelism.  If
>an unbeliever comes into one of our meetings, they may be impressed
>with what is happening, but I think we run a grave danger when we
>start to tailor meetings of the local church to do our evangelism
>for us.  All Christians should be involved in witnessing, but 
>witnessing involves a whole lot more than inviting people to come
>out to your church.
>
>Our responsibility as Christians is to worship God and edify each other
>in church meetings, and then to go out into the world and witness for
>Christ.  Doing the witnessing ourselves (instead of inviting people
>to "come to church" to hear the preacher) puts a greater burden on
>our shoulders, but will result in the greater reward and satisfaction.

I agree.  Another contrast: one type of church which is becoming very
popular in the US is the "seeker-oriented" church, in which Sunday mornings
are focused entirely on attracting visitors and evangelism.  (Church
members usually have a different service for themselves on some other day
of the week.)

As you point out, the weakness of this idea is that the focus is on
"getting people to the service".  The fact is that no matter how attractive
and entertaining you make your services, there are people who will not set
foot in a church.  In contrast, the purpose of meetings in a Small Group
Church is to equip *every* believer to be a minister of the gospel.
Instead of waiting for people to "come to church," we take our church out
to them -- at work, at school, in our neighborhoods, in clubs.
-- 
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."