Some have mistakenly concluded that cell church ministry is only for Pentecostal or Charismatic churches. Think again. I just got back from a three-day seminar in Tabasco, Mexico, the home of the church called Jesuscristo es la Vida Eterna. This Baptist church has grown to 400 cells groups and 3,000 people. The church baptizes 100 people per month and has grown at a 50% rate since starting their cell church vision several years ago.

About 800 people were present each night at the seminar and the 80% of the pastors and leaders were Baptists. Because of this church’s influence among Baptist circles, many Baptist pastors and leaders are now open to the cell church strategy.

The church had about 120 attending before they started transitioning to the cell church in 2002. Much of their cell philosophy is patterned after the ELIM Church in El Salvador. Like Elim, all cells have a weekly planning meeting in which they talk about who they’re going to invite to the cell, who they need to visit, etc. The cells meet on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday and are very evangelistically focused (they do follow the Sunday morning sermon).

Each cell group is given a one-year goal to multipy, complete with a folder that has the exact month to multiply. Each member is encouraged to invite one non-believer each month.

This cell church is opening new doors for cell ministry among the Baptists throughout Mexico.

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Joel