Small Group World

06.07.10

Groups... Title Confusion... What is a Cell Group/Church?

Small Group, Cell Group, Life Group, Community Group, Transformation Group, House Church, Discipleship Group, Support Group, etc…, etc…, etc.. ad nausea… When discussing groups be very careful. The title may mislead.

One of the geniuses of the small group movement is her organic flexibility. No one planned that the movement escape the rigidity some other group movements have embraced. If they had she would no longer be organic.

One of the outcomes of this elasticity is the movement's ability to stretch terminologies. The many terms that make up the first paragraph of this post are simply a sampling of terms I've heard describing a stereotypical open small group. As you can see, churches are reaching out and taking hold of (or creating their own) terms that may or may not be the true definition (or activity) of a particular group system. I have no problem with that. When consulting that church or doing training in that church I simply need to remember to have them define the term for me and tell me how these groups are functioning. Terminology isn't nearly as important as what Christ is doing in those groups.

I have noted that, because a cell church is quite different that most small group systems, it would be best for the Kingdom if we didn't misuse the term "cell group."

I have multiple heroes who are making a huge difference in the cell church movement. If you've been around me long you know that I consider Randall Neighbour a friend and cell church hero. He joined us for the free on-line event, The Summit, a Convergence of Small Group Experts. Another of my favorite cell church guys is Joel Comiskey. Believe me, I wanted Joel to join the panel. He was unable to be with us as he was in Africa working with some cell churches.

Joel has just posted a blog that will be very helpful to all of us in understanding cell groups. In this one blog post Joel gives us links with the following titles, "The Church That Multiplies," "cell driven church," "cell churches," "quality definition," and "what is a cell group?".

Below you'll find an excerpt from that blog. To see the short one page post and then connect with the links I mentioned go to http://joelcomiskeygroup.com/blog_2/2010/06/06/holistic-cells/

The cell is the church. It's not just an extension or program of the traditional Sunday gathering. When I do announcements at Wellspring, the church I started out here in Moreno Valley, I often say, "if you have to choose between attending the cell or the Sunday celebration, don't miss the cell." People still find it hard to remember that the cell is the church. They naturally see the Sunday gathering as the "true church," and I want to remind them that both the cell and the celebration are the church. In fact, the celebration service is the gathering of those cells together.