Mayor Gerardo Balmori
The Salvation Army
Cell Groups - What are they?
Cells are seen to be the basic building blocks of a church, just as cells are the basic building
blocks of life. They are 'small living things with an aim to grow and multiply!
Cells need to be big enough to function and small enough for building relationships. These
relationships will include accountability and the removal of masks allowing healing to take place.
The Key for cell life is the reality of Jesus with us.
• The presence of Christ
• The power of Christ
• The purpose of Christ
Through cells we live out the gospel in the world, being equipped for the works of service to
which God calls us. Our celebration meetings overflow from the cell life where spiritual gifts can be
developed in a context of trust and security. As we develop true community with each other we are
also enabled to reach out together to others in the world. Cell groups exist to impact the world with
the gospel in the same way you eat an elephant 'one bite at a time.'
The Goal of cell groups
Cell's are designed to nurture new believers and reach out to the unsaved all at the same
time. It can seem confusing, but the cell is to be like a young family. There can be a chain of help
set up. The youngest Christian can be helping someone who is not even saved. More mature ones
can help the younger ones. This way the church can grow. But note that actually cells exist to fulfill
the great commission of making disciples of every nation. We are there to glorify God and serve
one another.
Cells developed to make a church grow will fail every time. Growth is the never a
goal, it is the natural by-product of doing something right
“We must realize that it is God who provides the growth. We merely need to
keep sowing and provide the right environment for growth. Cell groups purpose is 'to
evangelize the neighborhoods by providing a place to bring friends and neighbors so
they could be introduced to Jesus Christ” Pastor Yo gui Cho
The components of a cell meeting
The general principle is that there are a number of things that we are trying to do on a given
evening, and that they naturally fall into an order as follows-
Meeting one another, worshiping God, studying the bible, edifying -encouraging and
using spiritual gifts, looking outwards to reach others.
These give rise to a whole range of different possible formats, the following are just some of them:-
• Food, Icebreaker, worship, study, ministry/prayer time, envisioning time.
• Welcome, worship, word, witness.
• Teaching points, worship, ministry, testimonies (for the unsaved present)
• etc...
The idea is to cause the group to come together first, then to focus on God, then hear from
him in what must be practical application-based study of his word, then meet one another’s needs
before considering the world outside the group. Studies can often been practical application
questions based on the previous Sundays sermon.
Relationship with Church
The Salvation Army New Brunswick Corps stresses small groups so much that the cells are
the church, even our Corps people agree that cells should not be seen as private churches. They are
to relate together.
Leaders
Cell group leaders need not be teachers. They are rather people who can care for and look
after a group of people. Vital to their success will be releasing all members into feeling responsible
for the work of the group. We are all called to serve, our two “S” means “save to serve” From very
early on in the life of a Christian they can get a foot on the first step of the ladder of leadership by
caring for another member in the group. Discipleship whereby we entrust values to those we can
then trust to pass onto others the same is vital.
By the time they reach cell leadership people will have been tested. Captain Gerardo
Balmori looks for enthusiasm, spirit-filled, availability and dedication in his leaders. The cell
leaders are encouraged to help develop a focus and vision specific to that group. Each group needs
apprentice leaders who are being trained to take on the next one.
In the cell model, cells are clustered into groups of around 3-5 cells which are overseen by
an experienced group leader who in turn are helped by another level of leadership who will be fulltime
overseeing several of these leaders. This aims to follow Jethro’s advice to Moses of leaders
being assigned groups of ascending size.
Bible Model Acts 2:39-47
Do you think the following comparative table is justified?
Early Church Today's Church
Grew rapidly Often in decline
Clear commitment to a certain often uncertain in what it says teaching
Holy Spirit a critical part Holy Spirit often not mentioned
Saw world outside as desperate Feels inferior to world and looks to
and needing help world for advice, not perceived
as offering anything to world.
Membership immediately following Membership before conversion / a long
conversion time after it.
Clear commitment to 'fellowship'= People go to church for years and
Community/ togetherness never talk to each other.
Ate together regularly and gladly Meet only in special buildings, may
in homes drink tea and eat biscuits.
Deeply committed to prayer Prayer an optional extra
Miracles frequent Miracles rare if ever
Shared possessions with those in Materialistic
need
In the group we aim to begin to rectify the balance and will struggle to make each of the things on
the left a reality. How do you think we can do this?
The key feature of the early church shown here is surely its community nature. It was a
community based around the teachings of the apostles- which we now have in our bibles. A
community upheld by prayer and strengthened by regular joyful meeting together rather than lots
of meetings.
What do you think of the following quote?
"Community is the commitment to care for each other and act togetherit
is not friendship" John Hosier
