In the post-pandemic era, the situation of the Chinese church has become increasingly difficult, especially for in-person church gatherings and how believers get sustained pastoral care.
A few days ago, the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, interviewed Pastor Z of a church in South China about his experience in transforming small groups into a cell church.
His mother church has several gathering points, and he is in charge of one of them. Pastor Z has worked with the pastors of the mother church to successfully transform its small groups into a church mainly consisting of small groups. Consequently, their cell church can adapt to environmental changes more flexibly, and they can get together with families and communities as a unit.
First of all, he clarified, “The significance of the small group in the church is different from that of the cell church. Small groups in church are group fellowship gatherings based on the gathering structure of the church. But his cell church serves to enable the group to realize the basic functions of the church: preaching the truth, worshiping, serving, officiating the holy communion, and so forth. Meanwhile, they also adopt the 5G group course promoted by Pastor James Shia (a famous American Chinese pastor), which advocates the cell church.”
The pastor continued, “Every group activity starts with five steps: cohesion, glory, growth, departure, and acceleration. Then they begin to divide into different church groups. The characteristics of a healthy church and the development model of a micro-church are then shared to strengthen the transformed cell church.”
“A church group is just a group. It is still committed to the structure of the mother church. Now the cell church we do is decentralized. What we emphasize is to be a simple cell church, rich in networking, and expect the cell church to spread like a network. For those who want to be cell church leaders, they will provide the corresponding pastoral information in the form of the central kitchen with the resources they need for pastoral care, so that the retention rate of staff will be improved.” Pastor Z adds.
Meanwhile, he also believes that the mode of cell church will be harder for pastors. They have to tour and visit each different cell church more than before, participate in it and listen to the members, and then give feedback and meetings to the group leader. He promotes an interactive method in classroom instruction. He encourages the group leader to take seekers, who have been discipled and taught in basic courses, to the church, and Pastor Z will apply the “finishing touch”. So, he will show the group leader how to lead people to believe in the Lord Jesus.
On pastoral care, he advocates slowing down. He said, “It takes three to three and a half years to lead a person to believe in the Lord and grow into a group leader. I agree that slow is fast, and less is more. These three years are actually a process of giving him a drill. Three years is a stage and a cycle.”
Pastor Z bluntly confessed, “To transform into a cell church, it is necessary to design the top-level settings. He believes that it is very important for the three core co-workers to have the same vision, methods, and strategies. While helping the three core co-workers, he also builds mutual trust, and then lets them differentiate, be the parish head and team leader under the church and establish the same vision and mission view.”
Now he does not need to rely on many teaching materials but emphasizes simple teaching materials with a high degree of initiative and the combination of learning and doing to train the members’ faith to grow. They tried many different kinds of teaching materials before, but the effect was not good, because of the lack of practicality. Later, they adopted simple teaching materials, increased interaction and scheduling of group members’ initiatives, and the actual effect was much better.
Pastor Z, as the person in charge, is responsible for three parishes, each with four to five groups. He will give priority to training parish heads and group leaders. His help is not only conceptual guidance, but also field visits to group gatherings, and he will hear the voices of the believers. He personally visits each group every day. Each small church has its own characteristics and differences, but he is more concerned about implementation. He insists on caring for the group leader and team members with fatherhood. He is not their teacher, but their guide and coach.
There are different gathering points under this church, one of which leader wanted to leave the city, but the heads and leaders of this church became arrogant, and they began to hold an enclosed group and did not listen to the pastor’s advice. Some believers reported that the parish head and group leader under this church began to prefer to lead the cell church with the concepts of successful theology and commercialization of the workplace and to pursue the increase of eloquence and knowledge. The sermon was just like a workplace speech and also like a sales promotion speech of an insurance company.
Pastor Z said, “This is not a sermon. Although it attracts believers at the moment, they don’t learn a thing after that. Moreover, if this goes on, they will start to ignore elderly believers and lose the basic principles and testimony of their faith.”
“A pastor can’t quickly establish a young man with great ability in the workplace as the leader of a cell church because the foundation behind him is not well established and he does great harm.” The person who may lead is endowed with great gifts. But if his heart becomes proud, he won’t listen to other people’s opinions, and the subsequent problems will be serious.”
“The remedy for the problematic church is that I will recall some mature believers who have good spiritual life to balance the spiritual atmosphere. Because that church is almost all young working people. It has already rejected the elderly and has its own proud thoughts in it, but it is not covered by the older pastors,” he added.
Pastor Z concluded, “When these young people are excellent in the workplace, they forget that the church needs to have the gospel passed on, and the church needs to be covered spiritually and fed by teachers and disciples. Pastors can’t trust young people too much and set them up as group leaders. As a result, they neglect the ministry of preaching, helping, and leading. If they teach and set up too quickly, it will be very dangerous. If the system is understood as hardware and spiritual life as software, I think both of them need to be established so that the cell church can be healthy and stable. The teaching materials and methodology of the group are not the most important. The most important thing is to establish the life foundation of the church owner, parish head and group leader.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
在后疫情时代，教会的处境越发艰难，尤其是在教会的集体聚会以及信众如何得到持续性的牧养方面，这些问题变得尤为突出。（==当summary）
日前，基督时报采访华南一间教会的Z牧者，他分享了他所经历的把教会小组转型为小组教会的心得和感悟。
他所在的母教会有多个堂点，他负责其中一个堂点，他曾跟随母教会的牧者，一同把教会里的小组成功地转型为小组教会。因而，他们的小组教会就可以更加灵活地适应多变的环境，以家庭为单位，以社区为单位就可以做聚会。当然，在这个过程中，他也经历了失败和挫折。
他首先阐明到：“教会里的小组和小组教会的意义是不同的，教会里的小组是依托在教会的聚会结构下的小组团契式的聚会。但他做的小组教会，就是要让小组实现教会所拥有的基本功能：真理宣讲，敬拜、事奉，掰饼等。 他们同时也采用了夏忠坚牧师的5G的小组课程，这个课程推崇的是小组教会。”
他接着说：“每一次的小组的活动是从五步开始：凝聚、荣耀、成长、出发、加速。然后他在自己的教会里开始分成不同的教会小组。他会在自己教会的门训上，分享健康教会的特征，还有微型教会观的发展模式来坚固转型后的小组教会。”
“教会小组他只是一个小组，他还在委身在母教会的结构里，现在他们做的小组教会是去中心化。他们强调的是做简单的小组教会，丰富的网络化，期待小组教会能像网络一样四散开来。对于想做小组教会的组长，他们所需要的牧养的资源，他们会以中央厨房的方式提供给相应的牧会资料，这样人员的留住率就会提高了。”Z牧者补充说到。
他同时也认为，这种小组教会的模式，对于牧者领袖会更加辛苦些，他们要比以往更多的巡回和探望每个不同的小组教会，参与其中并聆听聚会的信息，然后给组长反馈和开会。在堂点的门训上，他推行一种互动式的方法。他鼓励让组长带自己所牧养过教授完基本课程的慕道友到教会，Z牧者会来做“临门一脚”的工作，也就他会给组长示范怎么带领人归信主耶稣。
在牧养上，他主张速度慢下来，他认为说：“带领一个人信主到成长为小组长领袖需要3年到3年半的时间，我认同的是慢就是快，少就是多。这三年其实是给他一个操练的过程，三年是一个阶段和周期。”
Z牧者直言到：“做好小组教会的转型，需要做好顶层设置设计，他认为是三个核心同工之间要有一样的异象和方法策略，这很重要。他帮助三个核心同工的同时，也建立彼此之间的信任，然后再让他们分化出来，做堂点下的区长和组长，建立一样的异象和使命观。”
他现在牧养不需要依靠很多的教材，而是强调简单的教材配合高度的能动性，学和做的结合的方式来训练组员的信仰成长。他们之前尝试过许多不同种类的教材，但效果不好，因为缺少实操性，后来他们用了简单的教材，增加互动和对组员主动性的调度，实际效果好了很多。
Z牧者作为堂主，他负责三个区，每个区有四到五个小组。他会优先培养区长和组长。他的帮助不只是概念上的指导，也会实地探望小组聚会，他会听到基层的声音。他天天亲自探访各个小组。每个堂都有自己带领的特色和不同，但是他更关注的是执行力的问题。他坚持带着为父的心关心小组长和组员。他不做他们的老师，只做他们的导游和教练。
这个教会下面有不同的堂点，其中有一个堂的堂主要离开这个城市，但这个堂的区长和组长们的心变得很骄傲，他们开始抱团封闭化，不听牧者的建议了。有的信徒反映说，这个堂点下面的区长和小组长开始偏向于用成功神学和职场商业化的理念来带领小组教会，追求口才和知识性的加增，讲道就像职场演说一样，又像保险公司的售卖课堂。
Z牧者认为：“这个不是讲道，虽然当下很吸引信徒，但是信徒听后，留不下什么，而且这样下去，他们就会撇下老年信徒不管，有失信仰的基本原则和见证。”
他的一个反思的是：“牧者不能把一个职场上很有能力的年轻人，很快的建立为小组教会的领袖，因为后面根基没有建立好，他所产生的危害很大。可能带领的人是恩赐很强。但如果他的心变骄傲了，就听不进去别人的意见，那后续的问题会很严重。”
“对于出问题的堂点的补救措施是，我会把一些年长的属灵生命好的人召回到这个堂点来，做灵性氛围的平衡。因为这个堂几乎都是职场的年轻人，已经对老年人有排斥，有自己的骄傲的想法在里面，却没有年长牧者的遮盖。”Z牧者说到。
Z牧者观察到：“当这些年轻人在职场上很优秀，但他们却忘记了教会是要有福音的传承，教会需要有属灵的遮盖，是要有师徒传授来喂养的。牧者不能太过信任年轻人，建立他们为组长，结果忽略了传讲、帮助、带领的事奉，他们教导的太快，建立的太快，就会很危险。如果把体系理解为硬件，灵性生命是软件，我认为，两者都需要建立好，这样发展才小组教会才健康稳固。小组教会的教材也好，方法论也好，都不是最重要的，最重要的是要把堂主、区长、组长的生命根基建立好是最重要的。”
专访｜东南一牧者谈：教会小组到小组教会的转型之路的心得与感悟
In the post-pandemic era, the situation of the Chinese church has become increasingly difficult, especially for in-person church gatherings and how believers get sustained pastoral care.
A few days ago, the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, interviewed Pastor Z of a church in South China about his experience in transforming small groups into a cell church.
His mother church has several gathering points, and he is in charge of one of them. Pastor Z has worked with the pastors of the mother church to successfully transform its small groups into a church mainly consisting of small groups. Consequently, their cell church can adapt to environmental changes more flexibly, and they can get together with families and communities as a unit.
First of all, he clarified, “The significance of the small group in the church is different from that of the cell church. Small groups in church are group fellowship gatherings based on the gathering structure of the church. But his cell church serves to enable the group to realize the basic functions of the church: preaching the truth, worshiping, serving, officiating the holy communion, and so forth. Meanwhile, they also adopt the 5G group course promoted by Pastor James Shia (a famous American Chinese pastor), which advocates the cell church.”
The pastor continued, “Every group activity starts with five steps: cohesion, glory, growth, departure, and acceleration. Then they begin to divide into different church groups. The characteristics of a healthy church and the development model of a micro-church are then shared to strengthen the transformed cell church.”
“A church group is just a group. It is still committed to the structure of the mother church. Now the cell church we do is decentralized. What we emphasize is to be a simple cell church, rich in networking, and expect the cell church to spread like a network. For those who want to be cell church leaders, they will provide the corresponding pastoral information in the form of the central kitchen with the resources they need for pastoral care, so that the retention rate of staff will be improved.” Pastor Z adds.
Meanwhile, he also believes that the mode of cell church will be harder for pastors. They have to tour and visit each different cell church more than before, participate in it and listen to the members, and then give feedback and meetings to the group leader. He promotes an interactive method in classroom instruction. He encourages the group leader to take seekers, who have been discipled and taught in basic courses, to the church, and Pastor Z will apply the “finishing touch”. So, he will show the group leader how to lead people to believe in the Lord Jesus.
On pastoral care, he advocates slowing down. He said, “It takes three to three and a half years to lead a person to believe in the Lord and grow into a group leader. I agree that slow is fast, and less is more. These three years are actually a process of giving him a drill. Three years is a stage and a cycle.”
Pastor Z bluntly confessed, “To transform into a cell church, it is necessary to design the top-level settings. He believes that it is very important for the three core co-workers to have the same vision, methods, and strategies. While helping the three core co-workers, he also builds mutual trust, and then lets them differentiate, be the parish head and team leader under the church and establish the same vision and mission view.”
Now he does not need to rely on many teaching materials but emphasizes simple teaching materials with a high degree of initiative and the combination of learning and doing to train the members’ faith to grow. They tried many different kinds of teaching materials before, but the effect was not good, because of the lack of practicality. Later, they adopted simple teaching materials, increased interaction and scheduling of group members’ initiatives, and the actual effect was much better.
Pastor Z, as the person in charge, is responsible for three parishes, each with four to five groups. He will give priority to training parish heads and group leaders. His help is not only conceptual guidance, but also field visits to group gatherings, and he will hear the voices of the believers. He personally visits each group every day. Each small church has its own characteristics and differences, but he is more concerned about implementation. He insists on caring for the group leader and team members with fatherhood. He is not their teacher, but their guide and coach.
There are different gathering points under this church, one of which leader wanted to leave the city, but the heads and leaders of this church became arrogant, and they began to hold an enclosed group and did not listen to the pastor’s advice. Some believers reported that the parish head and group leader under this church began to prefer to lead the cell church with the concepts of successful theology and commercialization of the workplace and to pursue the increase of eloquence and knowledge. The sermon was just like a workplace speech and also like a sales promotion speech of an insurance company.
Pastor Z said, “This is not a sermon. Although it attracts believers at the moment, they don’t learn a thing after that. Moreover, if this goes on, they will start to ignore elderly believers and lose the basic principles and testimony of their faith.”
“A pastor can’t quickly establish a young man with great ability in the workplace as the leader of a cell church because the foundation behind him is not well established and he does great harm.” The person who may lead is endowed with great gifts. But if his heart becomes proud, he won’t listen to other people’s opinions, and the subsequent problems will be serious.”
“The remedy for the problematic church is that I will recall some mature believers who have good spiritual life to balance the spiritual atmosphere. Because that church is almost all young working people. It has already rejected the elderly and has its own proud thoughts in it, but it is not covered by the older pastors,” he added.
Pastor Z concluded, “When these young people are excellent in the workplace, they forget that the church needs to have the gospel passed on, and the church needs to be covered spiritually and fed by teachers and disciples. Pastors can’t trust young people too much and set them up as group leaders. As a result, they neglect the ministry of preaching, helping, and leading. If they teach and set up too quickly, it will be very dangerous. If the system is understood as hardware and spiritual life as software, I think both of them need to be established so that the cell church can be healthy and stable. The teaching materials and methodology of the group are not the most important. The most important thing is to establish the life foundation of the church owner, parish head and group leader.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
Interview: Chinese Pastor Elaborates on Transforming From Church With Small Groups to Cell Church
