“It is the depravity of institutions and movements that given in the beginning to express life they often end in throttling that very life. Therefore they need constant review, perpetual criticism, a continuous bringing back to original purposes and spirit. The Christian church is no exception. It is the chief illustration of the above.”
• E. Stanley Jones
Our D.Min. cadre has discussed the impact we desire to see from the Symposium. In order for this to be more than “just another meeting,” we are praying for an impartation through you to the community of 300 delegates who will be present. Participants have already registered from foreign countries including Nigeria, Switzerland, Korea, etc. but most will be from the USA or Canada.
We do not desire to “parade” the seven Presenters.
We are asking them to approach the Symposium as missionaries to us:
“Why is America and other parts of the world being left out of the significant harvests you are seeing in your areas of ministry?”
Jesus spoke of the soils and how it receives the seed. Would you help us by sharing their insights:
Is the dearth of cell group churches in parts of the world a condition of the soil, or are there other factors to be considered?
Each of the Presenters have been invited because they speak to us from different soils:
Eddie Leo: how the cells rooted in the soil of Islam.
Bill Smith: how the cells and “basic Christian communities” (sometimes called ‘house churches’) rooted in the soil of Restricted Access Nations.
Robert Lay: how the cells rooted in the soil of hundreds of traditional churches in Brazil.
Dion Robert: how the cells rooted in the soil of a demon-infested society.
Harold Weitz: how the cells rooted in the soil of South Africa and elsewhere through a powerful emphasis on equipping all believers for the work of ministry with a strong focus on prayer.
Mario Vega: how the cells rooted in the soil of a nation suffering from revolutions and poverty.
Jimmy Seibert: how the cells rooted in the soil of a college community with a passion to send church planters to the nations.
THE FIRST PRESENTATIONS:
Each will share the Principles, Values, and Theology that drives their communities that will speak into the USA, but also to the world. (We do not want you to slip into “How To’s”. The afternoon Breakouts with speakers are designed to focus in that area.)
The D. Min. cadre has suggested that we follow the pattern of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), an invitation-only event (with a fee of thousands of dollars), where the world's leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration. Each of the Presenters will be given 12 minutes to summarize the insights they bring to the Symposium.
On the first morning, the Presenters will summarize the passionate centers of what they bring to the Symposium, using no more than 12 minutes each.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE SYMPOSIUM
MORNING SESSIONS: The balance of the mornings will be spent by my chairing a discussion between the Presenters related to these specific topics: PRAYING, EQUIPPING, PLANNING, EDIFYING, PASTORING, EVANGELIZING. The 300 delegates will reflect on their insights to what the presenters bring to these areas.
EVENING SESSIONS: The evening sessions will be a “free-for-all” discussion with Eddie, Robert and Harold interacting with the delegates on Tuesday night; Dion and Mario on Wednesday night; and Bill and Jimmy on Thursday night.
Initial questions will be submitted in advance in writing but we will leave the evening open for discussion.
GO TO THE WEB SITE TO REGISTER
Ralph,
ReplyDeleteI cannot begin to convey the effect that the videos of the Cell Symposium have had on me. I was 'born' and discipled in the Navigator Collegiate ministry in the late 70s and was attending a staff training center in the early 80s. I was deemed 'not staff material' and cut off from the only body of Christ I had ever known. On the rebound, My wife and I abandoned all and 'joined' Wycliffe Bible Translators - primarily looking for a place to belong and a mission to fulfill. During our language immersion program my wife became extremely ill and has never recovered. In the late 1980s we studied The Scriptural Roots of Ministry with a Navigator Community Bible Study group and I first became aware of the centrality of the Church in God's plan to bring everything into subjection to Christ. I was shocked when the result of our study was NOT to start a one-another community of faith with the purpose to reach our community with the gospel, but to just 'not rock the boat' with the local program based church (wouldn't want to lose our donors now would we). God seemed to open a door for us to join a church plant in Rochester NY so I uprooted my family again and we began to minister with the leadership of this church which I thought was going to be small groups based. It quickly evolved into a Willow Creek clone and became seeker centered and the primary activities were entertainment centered. There was initial growth and community, but it rapidly fell prey to Satan's dividing work. Someone handed me a copy of "Where do we go from Here". As I read the introduction tears streamed down my face for I knew in my heart that this is what I had been looking for. I quickly took up the 'mission' to convert the church to a cell church, read all I could, prepared materials, resigned as an elder and began a small groups ministry based on cell (BCC) principles. Within 6 months I was on the pastor's hit list and had to leave. Subsequently for the last 10 years I have 'wandered' through the wastelands - ministering to a few one on one, participating in a BCC that was primarily focused on healing all the hurts we had experienced in the local church. I have attempted to rejoin the larger body by coming alongside creative churches, but I always find the key components of Gal 2:20 and Col 3:16 missing. Recently someone asked me to help them plant a church (typical pastor led program based). I said maybe but we had to review Bill Beckham's Two Winged Church seminar first and start with a Biblical Value system. After 5 sessions, we split. During those sessions I was researching and found the Cell Symposium. I listened to one a day for 3 weeks and through it God has called me to plant a church (see nlcm-roc.org for my attempts at defining my calling). All the books and seminars I have participated in just gave me the skeleton of the structure of the church. This symposium has put the flesh and the face on it for me. I have entered into the lives of the participants and I believe even their recorded prayers and comments have enabled the Holy Spirit to fall on me anew. Thank you so much for your tireless efforts Ralph.