QUOTE
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees
Christ warned the disciples: ABeware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:11). The teachings of these insitutional
leaders also include their organizational methods. Blending the
worship/administrative system tasks into the discipleship system may infect the
discipleship system with the characteristics of the institutional church.
At Yoido, cell members perform visitation and develop relationships outside of the cell meeting; there is a noticeable shift in emphasis to filling up the cell by inviting friends and neighbors to attend. This signature characteristic of the institutional church can turn cells into Acome structures.@ In this way the cell family can become the cell event, cycling each week with scripted activities, a worship time, a teaching time, an offering … in other words, just like a tiny, institutional church, doing the same thing over and over each week.
Just as the institutional church invites people to fill up the sanctuary and assumes that attendance at worship is all that is necessary for growth in discipleship, there is also a disturbing concept that attending cell meetings is all the is necessary to be a disciple. Filling up the cell is all that is needed to force multiplication into two cells. Two cells will result, but with immature members.
In the second wave, the cells are often filled up with people gathered from worship and Aharvest events,@ leading to more rapid multiplication. The traditional church use of worship for evangelism and small groups for sanctification is therefore preserved. At Yoido, the people first become involved in a cell that brings them to worship. The Great Commission demands that each new believer be trained to become a disciple maker and then practice the Great Commission, not as a group participant, but as an individual servant of God.
Another institutionally similar shift is the growing perception of the cells gathering as a group to minister, rather than individuals going, making disciples and loving their neighbors. Ministry therefore is therefore on/off, limited to the group time, rather than being decentralized as each person attempts to serve Christ 24/7. The cell begins to function just like a committee gathering to work and then adjourning for a week.
NOTE (my response)
DISCERNMENT QUESTIONS
RESOURCES
Footnotes:
The quote is from Major League Disciple Making: An Overview of the Best Research on the Cell Church, an online course developed for the Institute for Discipleship at www.BeADisciple.com in 2009. Course materials, including these lectures, can be downloaded here: http://www.disciplewalk.com/IFD_MLD_Class_Links.html
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.