Update: Cell Groups

In an earlier post I talked about our cell groups and how they have expanded beyond our expectations. This week the church and cell leaders met to decide how to restructure the cells to accommodate everyone. Several changes are set to take place in the next couple of weeks:

• new locations - some groups are changing location to make attendance more convenient for their members
  
• new leadership roles - every Monday, Stephen holds a leaders meeting where he instructs cell leaders in God's word and helps them prepare for that Wednesday's service. Now, leaders will be given a theme every week and then have to write their own message to deliver to their groups.
  
• new worship roles - every cell group now has its own worship leader and musicians. When the groups started, this wasn't the case. The church trains all its young people on the instrument of their choice and a short time later they begin to minister in the church. Enough people have been trained now so that each cell can hold worship services every week.
  

We are excited to see these changes implemented. Not only do they mean that the church is growing and that God is blessing this ministry, but the increasing number of leaders and people trained in different roles means that the church is not dependent only on the leadership of a few people. The more people who are trained to minister, the greater the reach and influence of the church. This, and not a power hierarchy based on titles, training, or position in the church, is one of the most important goals of the church.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13