Momentum is building to rediscover the full potential of small groups in reaching and discipling the lost. “Cell” is the embodiment of that full potential with it’s emphasis on ‘mobilising the troops’ to bring in the harvest. Megachurches such as the Full Gospel Church in Seoul Korea, Faith Community Baptist Church (F.C.B.C.) in Singapore and I.C.M. in Bogata Columbia have utilised various cell church models with head-spinning effectiveness (reaching up to 45,000 people on any given Sunday!*). It is the amazing success of churches such as these that has provoked deeper reflection across all denominations as to ‘how we do church’.

This process of reflection began for my husband and I about eight years ago when the concept document “Church from the Inside Out” by Ian Freestone hit a chord within both of us**. Ralph Neighbour Jnr’s “Where Do We Go From Here?”*** and a visit to F.C.B.C. in Singapore by my husband in 1995 cemented the process, resulting in a journey into the youth application of cell-church principles that we continue to walk today.

When we began back in 1994 we knew of no other cell-based youth ministries anywhere. We had heard vaguely of one in the U.S. (run by Ralph Neighbours’ son) that met on a Sunday for cells in homes and then combined for some community “hanging-out” time after. This became our only point of reference for the next few years.

So - beginning with a somewhat defined sense of outcome yet only a vague concept of how we were going to get there, and with no known cell-based youth ministries to learn from, no books written with a youth application, and no resources for youth cells or youth equipping - we felt a little blind-folded - stumbling around in the dark, falling over but picking ourselves up again determined to follow that inner conviction that there was a ‘better way’. We were to later discover that there were in fact many youth ministries being led in the same direction at the time who could have helped light up our path a little (some of whom are profiled here), we just didn’t know it.

Our first connection came via the internet (around 1997) when a search under “youth cells” came up with “Sublime”, a youth ministry in the U.K. run by Billy Kennedy. The relief to learn of someone else coming to terms with this ‘new direction’ and how it was being applied was amazing. It was so releasing to read of their struggles and failures and to be inspired by their successes. Gradually, through networking, we became aware of other ministries we could connect with and share resources with.

From these initial connections however grew the desire to ‘go see’ what these others were doing and the context in which they were doing it so that we could get a feel for what might really apply to our own situation and what perhaps would not.

Hence the inspiration for the research trip profiled here - 8 fun-filled weeks lugging our three beautiful (yet exhausting) boys across three oceans to the other side of the globe (the word ‘insane’ coming to mind many many times).

What follows then is an account of what we learnt from the youth ministries we visited and the inspiration we received for our own ministry situation. We never sought to find the ‘perfect’ model for youth-cell ministry - the one that guarantees a harvest and a stadium full of radical disciples - as tempting as it is to hope and pray such a model exists. In fact, no ministry we visited felt that they had really ‘arrived’. Each one felt they were on a journey where the boundaries shifted with each new turn on the road, bringing new weaknesses to target, new issues to be overcome. ‘Transition’ actually seemed to be the by-word of each one. This was a huge encouragement in itself and a reminder to us to not despise the journey in impatience to reach the destination - the reality being that the journey is actually the destination.

What we did seek to find then, were some of the ‘missing pieces’ to our own little puzzle: how to fit equipping into our already overcrowded weekly schedule; how to avoid leader burnout; how to help our ‘dysfunctionals’ overcome areas of bondage; how to access readily available youth-focused cell-based resources…

And, with the broader Australian church in mind, we also sought to find the missing pieces to some of your ‘puzzles’. We hope we have.

Be inspired.

God Bless

Jane Thompson.

August 2000

*“ Groups of 12” by Joel Comisky (Touch Publications, USA, 1999)