In South America, the Elim Church in El Salvador used the Yoido system, known as the “5×5″ model, to build a church of 130,000 members in 1999.[1] The International Charismatic Mission (ICM) of Bogota, Columbia, grew from eight members in 1983 to 24,000 in cell groups by 1998 using their “G12″ system.[2] ICM was reported in 2000 as having fifty thousand people attending four weekly weekend services and approximately 150,000 people attending twenty thousand weekly cell groups.[3] Having more people in weekly cell meetings than in worship is a characteristic of these large churches.
Title
QUOTE [1]
NOTE
DISCERNMENT QUESTIONS
RESOURCES
[1] The quote is a selection from David O. Kueker’s Fuller Seminary Doctor of Ministry project submitted in September, 2007, entitled Diagnosis, Dialogue, and Decision: A Threefold Process of Revitalization For the Illinois Great Rivers Conference.
It is shared here in recognition of its 12th Anniversary along with comments to update and provide perspective on the material. The original project was a Training Manual/Study Guide of three Seminars supported by three chapters of research and an Introduction. The material is available for download at www.disciplewalk.com/Resources.html. In 2009 it was provided for purchase as a softcover book entitled Designing Discipleship Systems: Christian Disciple Making For Any Size Church, Any Theology through CreateSpace.com.
[2][3] [4][5] [6][7] [8]
All Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Please review the page How and Why We Use Quotes.
[1]Billy Hornsby, The Cell Driven Church: Bringing in The Harvest (Mansfield, PA: Kingdom Publishing, 2000), 12-16. Larry Stockstill, The Cell Church: Preparing Your Church For The Coming Harvest (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1998), 20-22, 44, reports 50,000 members at Elim in 1993. Cf. Joel Comiskey, Passion and Persistence: How the Elim Church’s Cell Groups Penetrated an Entire City for Jesus (Houston: Cell Group Resources, 2004).
[2]Joel Comiskey, Reap the Harvest (Houston: Touch Publications, 1999), 43.
[3]Joel Comiskey, “Ten Largest Cell Churches.” The International Charismatic Mission’s web site is available in Spanish at http://www.mci12.com/ (accessed June 12, 2007).