Church Growth & Soccer Update

The El Calor soccer season continued this past weekend with a local game for the Torreon team and a trip to Casas Grandes, near Cd. Juarez, for the San Pedro team. The Torreon team is still adjusting to some changes in the lineup and unfortunately lost 1-0. The San Pedro team finished the first half losing 1-0 but rallied and won the game 4-1. This week the Torreon team will be traveling to Juarez, and the San Pedro team will be playing here.

We are excited to see continued church growth in Templo Cristiano Libertad! The new church building is still in progress and we're waiting on the roof. This week we bought 40 new chairs because we have been standing-room only, and we have ordered 50 more because the 40 are already filled! Several of our cell groups have received new members and may have to be divided up soon.

Also, a note of thanks to everyone at Destiny Church for another great conference. We were blessed by the services, the fellowship, and the ministry during our time there and we appreciate all the effort and hard work that went into making the week a success.

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

Cell Groups

This year we started running cell groups in order to extend the ministry reach of the church. Every Wednesday, small groups of people gather in homes and in the church to worship and learn God's word. Once a month we also hold a church service with all the groups. The main focus of the cell groups is to encourage us to read and study the Bible beyond what is preached on Sundays, and to teach us the importance of sharing Christ with all the world. The cells are also way of bringing new members into the church as they provide a welcoming environment for us to invite friends and others who don't normally attend services. We began in April with 7 groups, and the response has been so great that this month 4 groups have started cell groups of their own.