I first thought that my biggest challenge as a cell church pastor was to deeply work on the principles and values until the entire structure had shifted. Indeed it was a big challenge! We had to work hard to accomplish a complete transition. We never skipped or ignored any step of the transition phase. Yes, it was difficult to transition our church, but there was something even more difficult.
Even though transitioning was hard, keeping the leaders motivated and the vision healthy was even harder. I learned this along the way.
In his book Axioms, Bill Hybels says that vision leaks. And I have to agree. Some leaders lose their passion and vision and must be reminded continually about God’s purpose through cell ministry.
In our church, we have a “Vision Day” every other month. We invite all small group leaders, supervisors, coordinators and pastors to a number of workshops and vision casting activities. We spend the whole day together, morning, afternoon and evening. We invite outside pastors to preach and to do the workshops. As the lead pastor, I always preach the main message. They must hear from me and see my passion for cell ministry. All content on the Vision Day has something to do with cell ministry. We talk about topics such as: Why we do what we do? How to have exciting cell meetings. How do we fulfill the Great Commission, the leader’s prayer life, accountability, discipleship and making disciples? We always want the vision to be clear and the leaders to be focused.
I can tell you that I have seen leaders bored in the vision and leaking a lot. But I have also seen these leaders brought back on track, as they experienced the “Vision Day.” God gives them the grace to breathe again.
Transitioning is hard, but keeping the vision healthy after years of doing cell ministry is even harder. Lead pastors must be aware of it and make sure they are reinvigorating the vision when it starts to leak.
This article originally appeared here.
