I've recently been doing a new session in my seminars called "myths and truths of the cell church." One of those myths goes like this:

Myth: if I choose to go cell church, my church will grow

Truth: only Jesus can grow the church 

Jesus, not structure, is the only hope for life and growth. God showed me this vividly as I walked along the beach before my presentation in Myrtle Beach one month ago. I pictured the cell church as a beautiful kite sitting on the sand. It was well-built and pleasing to look at, but it just sat there. And in fact, it could go nowhere unless the wind sent it soaring. 

The cell church structure is a lot like that kite. It's a wonderful structure. Books have been written about it. The largest churches in the world use it. But it will just sit there and go nowhere apart from the Spirit of God blowing into it and giving it life. 

Karen Hurston, former worker at Yoido Full Gospel Church,  used to wisely say, "Cells are simply conduits of the Spirit of God. They have no power in and of themselves." In fact, sometimes we make the grave mistake of focusing too much on the cell structure, and we lose site of the wind of the Spirit, on the person of Jesus Christ. I use this oft-repeated quote in my seminars, "God will use the cell structure, but He won't be used by it."

One characteristic I noticed in the great cell churches is that they focus on the wind of God's Spirit more than the structure itself. In fact, most of the great leadership teams in the worldwide cell churches are not all that concerned about exact coaching structures for their cells.  Rather, they are constantly adapting as the Spirit guides. They don't hold tightly to cell models because they know that true growth comes from Jesus.

When I do cell seminars around the world, my wife continually reminds me to tell people that a commitment to prayer is the foundation for all effective cell ministry. That's what I found in my research of worldwide cell churches. Yet, I often have the tendency to get hung up on technique and structure. My wife knows this, so she often reminds me to tell the people that Jesus is the key source, as we pray to Him.  

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Joel Comiskey