Cell Ministry Should Not Be a Burden!
 I've seen so many cell leaders burdened by the weight of cell ministry. They remind me of Moses who was trying to do everything himself (Exodus 18). Jethro, his father-n-law, told him to stop carrying the load by himself. He told Moses to Raise up leaders who would shepherd groups of ten, thus alleviating the crushing weight of ministry.
Many cell leaders assume the mentality: "I'm the cell leader. I need to do all the work." Wrong.  The cell leader is the facilitator, not the work horse. The cell leaders is the person who orchestrates the work for the whole group to carry out.
Remember the concept of net fishing versus pole fishing? It's the team that does the work. Everyone participates!
There's too much work for one leader to do alone. Consider the pressures that a cell leader places upon himself when he embraces the statement "I need to do all the work."
- Prepare and facilitate all the various parts of the weekly meetings, making it look very polished and professional.
- Personally reach your lost friends (and your member's lost friends) for Christ.
- Meet with everyone in the group as often as possible to mentor and disciple them into strong believers.
- Train an intern or apprentice by having them watch what you do so that when he gets his own group, he'll know what to do.
Instead of doing everything yourself - which will never create a feeling of community or new leaders - involve the team! Ask others to help you in every aspect of cell life and leadership.
Here are some of the things you can do:
- Delegate all the various parts of your weekly meetings to others a month at a time and watch them learn as they do it.
- Ask each member to host the cell group, as least occassionally.
- Ask someone in the group to be in charge of meeting refreshments, prayer, worship, and the ministry time.
- Establish mentor-protégé relationships in your group (or accountability partnerships) and call them to see how they are doing. These relationship will be very fruitful if they have a difficult task to complete together, like your church's discipleship or equipping track.
- Meet with your intern or apprentice and together decide what the next steps are for your group. Then, let him or her learn by first-hand experience by leading the cell into one-another ministry and outreach, as well as facilitating weekly meetings. This will reduce your workload and give new leaders a vision for the future.
By involving others and forcing yourself to give away responsibility, the group will become an exciting place of ministry and growth. And you will not feel like Atlas, with the weight of the world on your shoulders. |
Resourcing the worldwide cell church movement 
