By Joel Comiskey, Biblical Foundations for the Cell-based Church
Most churches have small groups. Those groups might be important, but in the back of their minds, the true church is the larger Sunday celebration gathering. They might offer a buffet of small group options, but the motivation is to close the back door so people will come on Sunday, where the offerings are received, the Lord’s Supper is administered, and baptisms take place.
Is Sunday celebration important? Yes. Do we want people to come back on Sunday? Yes! However, when the New Testament writers talk about going to church, they refer equally to the church in the house as the larger gathering. Paul talks about the church in the house (ekklesia) of Philemon, Aquilla/ Priscilla, among many other examples. The word Ekklesia also refers to churches in the city, such as Corinth or Rome.
To say that the small group is the church takes the cell group to another level of commitment and understanding. Practically, it lifts the leader to the role of shepherd. One of Ralph Neighbour’s best-selling books, The Shepherd’s Guidebook (offered free of charge), prepares the leader to pastor the group. What about taking the Lord’s Supper in the small group? Offerings? Baptisms? I’ve known some churches that close down their celebration services occasionally and only meet in the homes to highlight that the cell is the church.
We in the cell church movement believe that the weekend celebration service is equally the Ekklesia, but we can easily forget that the cell is the church and needs to be esteemed and promoted as the church.