By Joel Comiskey, Reap the Harvest
I love to watch my backyard birds effortlessly glide from tree to tree. They never worry about which wing to use to fly to their destination. Because their wings are intimately integrated with their brains, they never question how they will reach the next tree branch.
The two-winged church should function like my backyard birds. But alas, that’s not always the case. I was in one so-called “cell church” that extolled its status as a two-winged church. The problem was that the celebration wing and the cell wing functioned separately and didn’t interact with each other. They were two distinct entities—those involved in the celebration wing were not connected to the cell wing and vice versa.
Cell churches that are gracefully and effectively flying expect that those in cells are also involved in the cell system, and those in the cell system are intimately connected to cells. We call this integration. I’ve written various articles on this topic, which you can check out below:
· Integration in the Cell Church
· Integration: Don’t Settle for Second Best
· Integration: More than Tasks
· Integration: Don’t Steal Sheep
· Integration: Learning to Say No
· How to Integrate Cells and Ministry
· Myth: It’s Okay to Simply Add Cell Ministry to What You Are Already Doing
· Cell Integration: Cell Church versus Church with Cells
· Pausing Programs to Concentrate on Cell Ministry
In summary, integration means that those involved in the church’s ministries are, first and foremost, intimately connected with clearly defined cell groups. For example, those on the worship team must first be actively involved in a cell group as a worship team requirement. In other words, if cells are the church’s base, the goal is for everyone to actively participate in cell and celebration. Those who desire to be involved in additional ministry can freely do so, but they must first be engaged in a clearly defined cell group.
Integration in both cell and celebration happens over time. The cell church transition might take five years—especially in very traditional churches. In a church plant, integration can happen immediately. For the month of June, we’ll write twenty-five blogs on this theme. Click here if you’d like to receive blogs in your email inbox. We’ll cover:
- June 02-08: The Biblical base for integration. The reality is that the New Testament ministry was cell-based—wholly integrated.
- June 09-15: The difference between a cell church and a church with cells. Often, the critical difference is integration. A church with cells allows people to pick and choose between ministry and cells, OR they redefine their cells, eventually leading to the groups becoming one of the programs. Granted, a church with cells is better than one without, but it’s still not ideal.
- June 16-22: Transitioning into integration. It’s important not to place integration over a church like a legalistic straight jacket. Lay people need to understand the WHY. I always counsel churches to give people in ministries enough time to get involved in a cell group. For example, suppose the church already has several healthy cell groups, and there are people on the worship team who are not in a cell group. In that case, it’s best to give those on the worship team six months to get involved in a life-giving cell group as a requirement to continue on the worship team.
- June 23-29: Problems with non-integrated small group churches. The problem is competition among ministries (cells always have a backseat in the church). The small group minister will always be longing for more to be involved in cells but will have little power to change the reality.
- June 30 to July 06: The beauty of a fully transitioned cell church. When a church has fully transitioned to the cell church strategy, there’s a much better chance of making disciples who make disciples. Those in cells have the “privilege” of also choosing a ministry in the church. Both cells and celebration are emphasized, and the two-winged church begins to soar.