Cell
The church I am a part of (Harvest, in Chesapeake) has an awesome student ministry... one like I have never seen before. I was born and raised Roman Catholic. It was a huge life decision (after much prayer) to leave the Catholic church and join up with this ministry at Harvest. I have been praying about it and trusting God with where He is leading me.
Without (you) visiting (or going to) the church and talking to the people there, it is a bit harder to explain the student ministry. We are doing what is called "The Vision." The very basics of this ministry are this: the leaders of the entire church have twelve people (from the church) who form that leader's "twelve." A "twelve" is this group of brothers and sisters in Christ who come together under one leadership, much like Jesus has twelve disciples. This is Biblical. Each person in the leader's "twelve" (in time and with much prayer) builds up their own "twelve"... and those people (in the new twelve) become leaders as well (eventually also building up their own "twelve"... and so on and so forth). All of these leaders are committed to Christ and have a heart for the lost and for doing God's work.
Building up one's twelve is not easy. It isn't even up to the leader's themselves. God places us where He wants us to be... including the leadership He places over our lives. Think about it like this - the church is growing and growing through prayer and complete dependence on God. These groups of twelve people... each with a leader and each, in turn, becoming a leader of their own twelve... allows the church to be interconnected. It provides the way to form each twelve in the likeness of Christ.
Again, much prayer goes into forming one's "twelve." God has the ultimate say and He works on His timing. In the church I am a part of, I recently was invited to be in my leader's "twelve" and I thankfully (to God) accepted. I'd been praying about it for a couple months, and so had she. My leader's (nick)name is Jrob and I believe God put me under her leadership for a specific reason. There is a LOT that had to happen to get me to this point - far too much for it to be mere coincidence. That is why I believe in doing The Vision and that is why I know God has placed me in Jrob's "twelve" to carry out His will and plan for my life (in how He wants me to serve Him).
So I am being formed each and every day into the likeness of Christ, who I love with all my heart. I am becoming a leader, as God has planned it this way. In doing so, this summer I am starting my cellgroup. What is a cell? It is like a Bible study group, except it is so much more. We do not sit in a circle and read the Bible like it is some sort of duty or chore. No way! Yes we learn about God's Word, but we learn from experiences and real life situations and activities. We will be meeting once a week to chill and talk and learn about God. But we will also be getting up and out and doing awesome and amazing things for God and with God. God has already given me many things He wants me to teach those in my cellgroup. For this I am very grateful! But on my part, it takes much prayer and complete dependence on Him. My heart is ready for this.
The Holy Spirit provides wisdom in everything... and I've been listening for this. I am going to be having a deck party at some point. I don't know the exact date yet. I'm still praying about that. God wants me to open up my heart and my home for an entire day, so people can come and go as they please. I am to send out at least 100 invitations, as God has asked me to do. Why? Because as I walked around my neighborhood with Him one morning, He asked me what I saw. I said, "I see a lot of people - my neighbors - who I simply do not know." He said, "Exactly."
So this will be two things: an open invitation to come together as neighbors and friends (whether the people coming live in my neighborhood or not)... and an open invitation to be a part of my cell - to meet up with me and see that Christians ARE fun. This is not to be a "roll call"... I am opening up my heart and home, and whoever wishes to learn more about God is more than welcome to come to my cell (or rather... GOD'S cell, b/c without Him, I'd have nothing at all).
I will write more on this later!
Without (you) visiting (or going to) the church and talking to the people there, it is a bit harder to explain the student ministry. We are doing what is called "The Vision." The very basics of this ministry are this: the leaders of the entire church have twelve people (from the church) who form that leader's "twelve." A "twelve" is this group of brothers and sisters in Christ who come together under one leadership, much like Jesus has twelve disciples. This is Biblical. Each person in the leader's "twelve" (in time and with much prayer) builds up their own "twelve"... and those people (in the new twelve) become leaders as well (eventually also building up their own "twelve"... and so on and so forth). All of these leaders are committed to Christ and have a heart for the lost and for doing God's work.
Building up one's twelve is not easy. It isn't even up to the leader's themselves. God places us where He wants us to be... including the leadership He places over our lives. Think about it like this - the church is growing and growing through prayer and complete dependence on God. These groups of twelve people... each with a leader and each, in turn, becoming a leader of their own twelve... allows the church to be interconnected. It provides the way to form each twelve in the likeness of Christ.
Again, much prayer goes into forming one's "twelve." God has the ultimate say and He works on His timing. In the church I am a part of, I recently was invited to be in my leader's "twelve" and I thankfully (to God) accepted. I'd been praying about it for a couple months, and so had she. My leader's (nick)name is Jrob and I believe God put me under her leadership for a specific reason. There is a LOT that had to happen to get me to this point - far too much for it to be mere coincidence. That is why I believe in doing The Vision and that is why I know God has placed me in Jrob's "twelve" to carry out His will and plan for my life (in how He wants me to serve Him).
So I am being formed each and every day into the likeness of Christ, who I love with all my heart. I am becoming a leader, as God has planned it this way. In doing so, this summer I am starting my cellgroup. What is a cell? It is like a Bible study group, except it is so much more. We do not sit in a circle and read the Bible like it is some sort of duty or chore. No way! Yes we learn about God's Word, but we learn from experiences and real life situations and activities. We will be meeting once a week to chill and talk and learn about God. But we will also be getting up and out and doing awesome and amazing things for God and with God. God has already given me many things He wants me to teach those in my cellgroup. For this I am very grateful! But on my part, it takes much prayer and complete dependence on Him. My heart is ready for this.
The Holy Spirit provides wisdom in everything... and I've been listening for this. I am going to be having a deck party at some point. I don't know the exact date yet. I'm still praying about that. God wants me to open up my heart and my home for an entire day, so people can come and go as they please. I am to send out at least 100 invitations, as God has asked me to do. Why? Because as I walked around my neighborhood with Him one morning, He asked me what I saw. I said, "I see a lot of people - my neighbors - who I simply do not know." He said, "Exactly."
So this will be two things: an open invitation to come together as neighbors and friends (whether the people coming live in my neighborhood or not)... and an open invitation to be a part of my cell - to meet up with me and see that Christians ARE fun. This is not to be a "roll call"... I am opening up my heart and home, and whoever wishes to learn more about God is more than welcome to come to my cell (or rather... GOD'S cell, b/c without Him, I'd have nothing at all).
I will write more on this later!