November 13, 2000
Cell church multiplying in Houston
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___HOUSTON--Have a big enough vision to keep things small.
___That is the foundational principle behind the cell group evangelism that is taking root in Houston, according to pastor Guy Caskey.
___"We're not here to draw a crowd, but to make disciples," explained Caskey, who is pastor to a growing collection of cell groups that meet in homes for weekly worship and Bible study.
___It's not a church in a traditional sense, because the cell groups don't ever come together in a large meeting. And the collection of cell groups doesn't even have a name.
___Caskey was working with a traditional church in a traditional fashion in 1990 but soon came to the conclusion that a change was needed. "We weren't reaching people, and we were looking for a way to get back to the New Testament model," he said.
___Union Baptist Association supports this ministry.
___"With a city as diverse as Houston, we support a variety of evangelistic methods," said Dian Kidd, associate director of missions for Union Baptist Association. "We support the use of cell groups as one of those methods."
___Karen Simons, a consultant for the association, also testified to the viability of the concept.
___"As someone who has participated in missions endeavors in many parts of the world, I can tell you this is what is known there as contextualization," she said. "On the mission field, we have seen widespread church planting movements started through the use of home churches and cell groups."
___Caskey is convinced that cell churches come closest to mirroring what Jesus did in the early church: The groups are kept small, people are discipled, members of the group help meet the needs of the others and the goal is for those in the group to leave and make new disciples.
___The groups work well for a number of reasons, Caskey said. Accountability is one of the major reasons. When only 10 to 12 adults are a part of the group, it's easy to tell when someone is missing. Also, because the groups are small, everyone is expected to take a leadership role of some sort to help the group run effectively.
___"You can't disciple a crowd," Caskey said. "You see pastors preach to hundreds and even thousands, but you can't disciple groups that large. Jesus chose 12 to disciple. He ministered to the masses, and we try to do that too, but when it came to discipling, he took his 12 off by themselves."
___Caskey admits this is a different way of thinking than most church members are accustomed to, and people who've been in the traditional church for a long time "have a tough time making the transition."
___For that reason, many of the people involved in cell churches have "zero experience" with a traditional church setting, he said.
___Someone coming to a cell church meeting first would experience a time of casual conversation, probably with snacks of some sort involved, the pastor said. If new people were present, some in the group would "share their stories," tell of their experiences with Jesus. The group would then have a time of Bible study and prayer and sharing of joys and needs.
___"We exist to transform lives," Caskey said. "We're not information-driven, but transformation-driven. We want to see people's lives made different because of an experience with Jesus as Lord and Savior."
___The group is multiplied by one or two from the group going out to start a new group. A group usually multiplies itself by starting a new group every six to 15 months, Caskey said.
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