This post-pandemic era will cause us to rethink evangelism.

I will offer a 12-hour seminary course to address this issue.

COURSE: MULTIPLY LIKE JESUS - ELE501

Session 1 – September 21 EVANGELISM ENVIRONMENTS

Session 2 – September 24 PERSONAL EVANGELISM

Session 3 – September 28 SMALL GROUP EVANGELISM

Session 4 – October 1 HARVEST EVANGELISM

Enrolled students can attend in person or online. Cost is $90.

Sessions will be available for viewing at student’s choice after presented.

Enroll here: www.thebibleseminary.edu

 I am now 91 years old and reflecting on the journey. I have realized this blog never attracted much of a readership. My sons set it up for me as a Christmas present years ago. before I give up on it I decided to write one more time at least.

The pandemic has changed modern society more than anything in modern times. It has rattled churchianity foundations, causing the Western church to take stock of its unbiblical foundations that replaced the equipping of all believers to be priests with puffy inspirational expositors that left them unprepared to minister.

I have been helping a small team in Montenegro develop online groups in English and Russian. At this time the project is in development with much  to be done before testing can begin. If you are interested, check cb.online. I have insisted we call the groups being formed CHRIST'S BODIES. Why? Because when they have been called Life Groups, Cell Groups, etc., they have deviated in their objectives widely.

Pastors have not wanted to use that designation because they feel it is too strong a term and will frighten people from joining the group. They do not realize their fear may reveal they have not wanted their flocks to assume their real identities. Paul said plainly. "Now you are the Body of Christ!"

Let's  see if I get ay feedback from readers. If so I will begin to blog regularly.

Ralph

When God formed the second body for His Son Christ to occupy, it was to reveal His agape through each member. I propose that a human is formed with limited capacities to phileo and eros and storge.

A human does not possess agape until God indwells him, because only God is agape! 

Because God is a spirit, His presence is invisible unless He reveals something about Himself that is visible.

To reveal His POWER, the Godhead spoke the universe into existence (Romans 1:19-20).

To  reveal His AGAPE, he created all humans with the capacity receive His full Presence (Col. 2:9).

To reveal His PRESENCE, He formed Christ's second body:

And God put all things under Christ's feet, and He gave Him to the church as head over all things. 
Now the church is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. - Eph. 1:22-23.

 When that body gathers, it forms community where every person prophesies, filled with agape revelation:

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninformed person enters, he will be convicted by all, he will be called to account by all. - 1 Cor. 14:24
For you can all prophesy one after another, so all can learn and be encouraged. - I Cor. 14:31

1 Cor. 11 clearly teaches that agape is the greatest activity of Christ's body. Its witness causes the unbeliever to fall on his face and say, "GOD IS AMONG YOU!" - 1 Cor. 14:25

Conclusion: the authentic body of Christ meets to manifest His supernatural invisible Presence and Power. It is done house to house, where all prophesy.

Read more: Christ's Basic Bodies. 

www.touchusa.org/resources/christs-basic-bodies.asp

Powerpoints of the John 3:16 Diagram

Missionary David North hascreated powerpoints of the John 3:16 Diagram.

Download it here and open in Powerpoint.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/au0zhxa56xfk108/TheDiagramTract_v3.0.pptx?dl=0 

COVER THE BIBLE

I felt the Cell Church world needed a way to ground every cell member in all 52 books of the Bible, so we invested a $20,000 grant and 2 years of work by 4 people to get this course up and running.

It is on line FREE OF CHARGE!

Just go to www.coverthebible.com

Every segment is only 5 minutes a day, so in 52 weeks 5 minutes a day you have the equivalent of a Bible College Survey course!

Check marks appear to show you where you left off.

Let me know if you like it and recommend it to others.

One, Two, Three – GO!

Wikipedia defines Numerology “any belief in the purported divine, mystical . . . relationship between a number and some coinciding events.”

Adam needed Eve, so the number “two” became connected with having a “suitable helper” (Hebrew ezer). And together, the two were able to produce “baby” – and now we have the significance of three.

God divided Israel into 12 tribes and the Israelites were divided into groups of 10 for Passover celebrations. There are 144,000 in Revelation 7:4 and in Revelation 7:9 “a great multitude that no one can count.”

We have a tendency in the cell world to be enamored by the number 12 or 2. Some have deified them as the perfect number causing growth. One Brazilian pastor even replaced the Cross on the front of the sanctuary with the High Priest’s breastplate containing 12 stones, the “sacred” number.

Can we agree that any number, in the proper setting, is the “right” number, but to give prominence to any number may be to breed one more passing fad?

ONE, -- When Paul prayed for direction in Acts 16:9, he was alone. There are times when One is the intimate way to meet God.

TWO, --When Jesus sent the disciples and the seventy to penetrate the lost, He sent them in Twos.

THREE, --He defined His Presence as becoming a part of Two or Three “gathered in His name.”

TWELVE --His prototype for His new body was the calling of the Twelve, but He chose Three of them to be closest to Himself.

120 --He entered 120 at Pentecost and they quickly multiplied to 3,000 who went in small groups from house to house.

Let’s sublimate our passion for numbers with proper settings!

The setting sets the number. Mentoring often takes place one on one: that involves Two.

But there is greater power in groups of Three because community now exists. People first experience intimate community in a triad.

Community begins with Three and ends with Twelve. Why? Because of this formula: N x N –N = CL (Number of people, times number of people, minus number of people, equals communication lines). After 132 “CL’s” you enter into public gatherings mode where intimacy is impossible.

I writhe in agony when some pastor brags to me about his groups who he has allowed to grow to 25 or 45. Through ignorance, he has destroyed the value of his home cells!

The proper setting for intimacy with God is “One” person in the closet.

The proper setting for working with unbelievers is to send “Twos” into households, to live among the family and find the “Man of Peace.”

The proper setting for mentoring, as Jesus said, is in “Two or Three” with Him making the Fourth person.

The proper setting for a Cell is a gathering of three to twelve.

(MORE ABOUT THIS IN PART TWO}

CELL LEADER APPRECIATION IS IMPORTANT!

SHOWING APPRECIATION TO CELL LEADERS

What ministry title in scripture best approximates the ministry performed by a Cell Leader? Elder or Deacon? Perhaps one of the five titles mentioned in Ephesians: Apostle, Prophet, Pastor, Teacher, Evangelist? Or, what about Shepherd? Servant? Other titles to be considered could be Counselor, Comforter, Advisor, etc.

The point is this: the ministry of a Cell Leader from time to time may involve all these areas. This person may be the first one at a family in crisis, the first mentor of a future missionary, the one who intercedes into the night for those in the home group.

It involves a significant sacrifice of time to lead a cell, a restructuring of priorities to put the needs of the families of the group ahead of leisure activities. Consider also the commitment of the spouse and even the children as they release this person to serve month after month.

I shall never forget the first trip to Seoul in 1963 to visit Pastor Yonggi Cho. Among other things I discovered was that he had just taken by the busloads all the Cell Leaders of the church to a seaside resort for a multi-day “Thank You” event. This annual time with the Pastor was a great blessing to those who had served so faithfully.

When I went to Singapore to help build the Faith Community Baptist Church cell ministry, we budgeted from the start a special annual event for all Cell Leaders, taking them to a seaside resort in Malaysia. In addition, personalized gifts were presented. 24 years later, I still unzip the little leather case of nail clippers with the church logo we gave to each person. In addition, there were significant awards at this annual event for the Cell Leaders who had multiplied their groups several times and those who had brought the most new believers to Christ.

While we averaged about 2 ½ years of service before cell leaders either took time off or were promoted to be responsible for overseeing 5-6 cells (Cell Supervisors) or moved to a pastoral position (Zone Pastor), we had many who chose to remain a cell leader year after year, often seeing several generations of “daughter cells.” These were given special honor. I noted in a recent article by Pastor Mario Vega that they had just honored a woman who had led a cell since the founding of the church!

For unsalaried cell leaders, their greatest “rewards” are not going to be a special annual retreat or banquet or trophy or pin. It will be the lives they have invested their prayers and hours to mentor and inspire. This is the gold, silver and precious stones that they will be rewarded for when they meet God at they enter into His eternal home and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” But a congregation that recognizes the faithful service of its cell leaders will prosper!

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”