You’ve probably figured out by now that we at JCG promote cell church principles over adopting someone else’s model. I think it’s far wiser to ADAPT principles than to ADOPT a model. God is wonderfully creative and loves to give his children liberty.
Now I do rejoice that God has raised up model cell churches all over the world. Yet, the attitude of such churches should be: “come and learn principles from us and we will generously share with you all that we’ve learned” rather than “if you want to learn from us, you must adopt our model completely.”
Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea (the largest church in the world) and the Elim Church in San Salvador, El Salvador (the second largest church in the world) are this way. Both of these churches freely share their resources and are generous in sharing principles with all who want to learn.
Yet, the temptation of some churches is to give promises of instant growth by saying, “You have to follow exactly what I’m doing. And if you don’t follow exactly what I’m doing, your church won’t grow.†Those who follow this type of thinking fall into the trap of trying to do exactly what they are told without understanding why they are doing it.
The key is to understand that principles—not models—bring the growth. Next week we’ll explore some of those important cell church principles.
Joel
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