by Mario Vega
The cell model is not something that is established once and for all. Rather, it should be improved continually. Each church must adapt, adjust, and determine how to improve every aspect of the cell model according to its context.
Although our model is strongly based on the work of Pastor Cho in Korea, and we try faithfully to adhere to his model, this fact hasn’t stopped us from making adjustments to our own reality. I could say that approximately every three years we are innovating in some way.
Obviously, these innovations do not change the principles or the values of cell work. In our case, it doesn’t even change our attachment to the Korean model. But, it does allow us to achieve the adjustments that make our work more efficient.
Another reason why we must make adjustments is because the society in which the church testifies is also changing. If we are not attentive to new sociological movements, the church will soon stop being relevant. That does not mean that the church walks by the world’s rhythm. It only means that the church takes advantage in the best way possible of the new opportunities society offers.
For these reasons, we should not fear to make adjustments or precisions that will fit within our particular reality. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can mend our nets for a greater catch of fish.
Comments?
Mario
Translation in Spanish
Paso a paso.
El modelo celular no es algo que se establece una sola vez y para siempre. El modelo celular es susceptible de ser mejorado. Cada iglesia debe adaptar, ajustar, precisar cada aspecto que resulte en una mejora dentro de su contexto.
Aunque nuestro modelo se basa fuertemente en el trabajo del Pastor Cho en Corea y tratamos de apegarnos de manera fiel a su modelo, eso no ha impedido que hagamos nuestras propias adaptaciones a nuestra realidad. Podra decir que aproximadamente cada tres años estamos innovando en algún aspecto.
Obviamente, esas innovaciones no cambian los principios ni los valores del trabajo con células. En nuestro caso, ni siquiera cambia nuestro apego al modelo coreano. Pero, s nos permite lograr los ajustes que vuelven más eficiente nuestro trabajo.
Otra razón por la que debemos hacer ajustes es porque la sociedad en la que la iglesia testifica es también cambiante. Si no estamos atentos a los movimientos sociológicos la iglesia pronto dejará de ser pertinente. Eso no significa que la iglesia camina al ritmo del mundo. Sólo significa que la iglesia aprovecha de la mejor manera las nuevas oportunidades que la sociedad ofrece.
Por tales motivos, no debemos temer el hacer los ajustes o precisiones que funcionen en nuestra realidad concreta. Con la ayuda del Espritu Santo podemos remendar nuestras redes para una gran pesca.
Step by step.
Mario!
I can not agree more with what you are saying.
I also must state, that we have to look with honesty at the History of Christianity in the world, in this country born Under God & the history of humanity in general.
We also should analyise why this Christian country (including the church) of many nations has been compromising principles of Christ at least since Kennedy delivering missinformation to it’s citizens on almost every subject. Please read below. I think it’s important although may not be related to the subject directly.
1. I talked to my Dear friend D. yesterday, who is (not a full-gospel) new-born Christian & I got into peaceful disagreement with him on the Promise to all Christians through Noah, Abraham (both of them were not Jews) & Jesus, who was a Jew (Acts & Ephesians). D. criticized Acts. He is one of the most dedicated Bible Study Teachers in the region & belongs to very large non-denominational Church here. He was my 1st Bible teacher outside of my Pentecostal experience. Many Russian & Ukrainian Pentecostals (!!!) go there in addition to their Churches.
He is about 72 y.o. & has great heart & believes that Church must have different denominations.
I think I got a revelation just based on this conversation:
Christians do not follow Christ according to the Bible as a whole package since there is no unity in interpretation of the Word & History of Christianity & the world. I am going from Pastor’s Tinu Preachings on Monday, Wen & my own knowledge.
This is what I am talking at today’s Russian meeting in Tamara’s house in Aurora on the Holly Ghost:
1. The Promise to Noah, Abraham & by Jesus to the nations of the earth.
2. Ephesians 2:16-22, 3
3. Acts 1.
If I cover it all I will, if not I will take it to the next week.
I just read Psalm 121 & it was already highlighted by me. I think what I do in my Christian walk is exactly what I did in my secular walk: instead of studying & meditating on 1 section at the time I jump from one thing to another. Results: I am all over the Bible. Ken Hagin according to his book “Believer’s authority†prayed over Ephesians 1:16-20, 3:14-19 1000 times.
I agree with your assessment. Relax and let the Holy Spirit lead you. We tend to jump around when we haven’t submitted to God totally – we try to make things happen on our own without the lead of the Father. Sister S.
Your can share your thoughts if you want.
The MESSAGE Bible interpretation of Eph 2 and Acts 1 is awesome – It’s below – PLEASE READ IT ; Sister S.
Ephesians 2:1-20 (The Message)
He Tore Down the Wall
1-6It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did , we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
11-13But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
14-15The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
16-18Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
19-22That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Acts 1 (The Message)
To the Ends of the World
1-5Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented him self alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”
6When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?”
7-8He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
9-11These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared
Sister S.
Thanks Mario!
I would love to hear about what some of your recent innovations have been, and ways you have been led to adjust according to sociological realities.
ELIM IMPACTANDO A LAS A NACIONES.