Where do we find "houses of peace"? A couple of days ago I suggested : It may be that the small groups and cell groups in traditional churches have been an important training ground for house church leaders. (George Barna has thinks that perhaps a million people a year are leaving traditional church!)Marty Reiswig (Denver) responded: That's an interesting thought. And if that's true, how is leading a small group different from leading a house church? What kind of transition coaching will we need to provide? What training is needed?
Great questions, Marty! Maybe the first question is: "How is a small group different from a house church?" Obviously, there are similarities. But, what are the important differences?
Answering that question will help us think about how leading the two kinds of groups might differ. And, then we can think about what kind of transition coaching and training might be needed.
Let's throw that out to our MRT Community and see what we come up with.
John
For me, having never really spent any significant time in a small group, I can only say what I've read and what impressions I've gotten from others who were more immersed in evangelical Christianity than I was since the small group/cell church movement caught fire.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the central difference is expectation. What are we expecting when we walk through that front door of our house church? Of our small group? What we expect inevitably results in what we get. What we seek we will find.
Apex Network in Ohio did a video on the more technical differences - See it here.
For me, cell groups, or "small groups" was a big part of my training ground... I was the cell group "coordinator" for my traditional church, and oversaw all the cell groups and cell group training as our traditional churcch was transitioning from a midweek bible study service to midweek cell groups instead, so I have read the books and drank that kool-aid. The video that Mark just posted (thanks Mark!) does a great job of explaining the differences. Small groups are VERY structured, very organized, and very heavily controlled by the leadership of the traditional church they comprise. From the curriculum they follow each week to the leadership among and over them. Although there are MANY benefits and steps in the right direction to cell groups - actually those churches who do them really well and really see them growing and multiplying naturally, have ccell groups that are more independant, more like house churches, and more like very tight-knit families. If there were one major difference between an organic church and a cell group or small group, I think it might be "When you come together, everyone of you has a song, a teaching, a tongue, etc"...
ReplyDeleteOh and one more thing (sorry to be long-winded) -- when we started doing house church instead of a cell-based traditional church model, I quickly realized a BIG key difference - when you consider your house church family your MAIN church family, or start doing house church SOLELY, suddenly you get really serious about experiencing Jesus during your meetings and edifying and being edified when you come together - in a way that you might not if you still attended a traditional church service every week. If you are getting your spiritual needs met elsewhere, you won't take the spiritual part of your gatherings as seriously... Kind of like someone who comes to dinner at your house, but isn't very hungry because they already ate at a restaurant a couple hours ago. Or like if a spouse is unfaithful - they are getting their needs met elsewhere, so they don't "Need" their spouse as much...
ReplyDeleteDoes that make sense? Im not sure how to explain it plainly, but it makes a HUGE difference when your house church family is your only church family. Suddenly you get serious about the relationships in it, truly touching Jesus when you come together, truly teaching and being taught (fed) among and by your house church family, and truly working out the issues that arise within the family. To me, this difference, although less obvious, is a HUGE one !
Mark and Artman81 have this pretty well covered! The only thing I can think to add is really just another way of analysing what they've already written.
ReplyDeleteCell groups and organic churches are fundamentally different in terms of authority. A cell group member needs the leader's authority to speak or act. Every organic church member has the authority to speak or act and receives that authority directly from the Son.
Even if cells and small churches seem ever so alike in many ways, examining the authority structure immediately clarifies which is which.
My apologies for not answering the question directly an maybe being a bit over simplistic and not getting the point (and for missing quite a few days of conversation)
ReplyDeleteAs I read through this I ask myself the question who are we following? to which my obvious answer is Jesus so when we come together as groups ( or daily on the journey ) should I not let him be the leader. To me without us all trying to let Jesus lead then i think there probably isnt much difference between cell groups and house churches.
Artman81 said: "...it makes a HUGE difference when your house church family is your only church family."
ReplyDeleteJW: I agree! To say it another way, in traditional church it is very easy to remain a spiritual infant expecting to be fed by someone else. (How many times as a traditional pastor did I hear people say, "I just wasn't being fed there.") House church, on the other hand, requires people to function as spiritual grown-ups. We have to learn to feed ourselves (which is what adults do) and to bring enough for others. "When you come together everyone has a word of instruction..."
Sean Diviney said... "To me without us all trying to let Jesus lead then i think there probably isnt much difference between cell groups and house churches."
JW: Not too simplistic at all, Sean. This goes right to the heart of the matter. If Jesus isn't leading, it doesn't much matter where we meet or what we call it.