Although the requirements varied from church to church, the core requirements of salvation, membership, water baptism, cell attendance, and completion of specific cell training applied in all the churches. The amount and content of the training, however, varied greatly from church to church.
What Will You Leave Behind?
John Wesley and George Whitefield were famous preachers. Each lived during the 18th century and belonged to the same holy club at Oxford University. Both desired to win a lost world for Jesus Christ and were eager to try new methods to do so. In fact, George Whitefield preached in the open air before John Wesley. Most believe that George Whitefield was a better preacher than Wesley. Benjamin Franklin once calculated that Whitefield could easily preach to a crowd of 30,000 people (without a microphone!) Whitefield probably even recorded more decisions than Wesley because of the huge crowds he attracted.
Yet, at the end of his life George Whitefield said this: “My brother Wesley acted wisely—the souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in class, and thus preserved the fruits of his labor. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.”
Whitefield’s labors died with him, but Wesley’s fruit continued to grow, increase, and multiply. Wesley organized the movement and brought it under systematic management; Whitefield hoped that those who had been “awakened” would follow through on their own initiative; Wesley left nothing to chance. Wesley raised up a movement that produced leaders, while Whitefield only could produce conversions.
We need to concentrate on converting church members into dynamic cell leaders who will produce new cell leaders. We need to view our congregation with leadership eyes and then make sure that we have a training track to prepare them. Start a movement, and you won’t have to preside over a monument.
