The Spiritual and Missional Cultivation of the Church

This plan is designed to have a Nurturer guide the study, feel free to have other cell members support any of the sections as part of nurturing. All instructions are identified for Nurturer. A separate document (cell content) is meant to be shared.

This cell plan is based on the sermon shared on Sunday, September 28th by Pastor Dali Ren.

Prepare Ahead

• Read Cell Vision Statement
• Meditate on Matthew 25
• Pray and discern next steps for your cell for outreach / prayer partners / grad transition
• Link to sharable version for members: Cell Content

Opening

Nurturer: If there are new members today joining for the first time ask everyone to share something about themselves.

• Note: Has it been a while since your cell has reviewed the cell vision statement? Review it together at: Cell Based Ministry

Icebreaker: If you can get an hour back from last week and re-experience it, what would it be?

Worship

Bible Reading Sharing:

Ask: How was your bible reading in the last 2 weeks, share something from your readings with the group!

Note: If sharing is scarce and always the same people, can start a rotation schedule

Go into musical worship if someone is scheduled. Continue to ask if members of the cell are willing to lead this portion in the future.

Please pray for the group to begin the study.

Nurture: For those who would like to allot this portion of the night to something else feel free to use the prayer exercise:

• Prayer Exercise
• Lectio divina

Word

Acts 11:19-21 NIV

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. ²⁰ Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²² News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.²³ When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. ²⁴ He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

²⁷ During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹ The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. ³⁰ This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 13:1-3 NIV

¹ Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas,Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herodthe tetrarch) and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Discussion

Reminders and Recommendations for Nurturers:

• Spend some time in the sermon review to ensure the group has a grasp of the main point of the sermon
  • Ask if there’s anyone who wasn’t able to join, if there is, spend a bit of time to go through the sermon summary being going in to the review questions
  • If everyone was at the sermon, skip directly to the review questions
• Review the questions ahead of time and decide which questions to ask your group. Typically, a good discussion will only be able to accommodate 2-3 questions for a meeting.
  • If being asked in a large group, invite others to join in and response if they have shared similar experiences or thoughts
  • Try to avoid from going around in a circle, as the nurturer, ask follow-up questions and avoid giving advice.
  • In order to allow for deeper discussion, consider breaking the group up into smaller groups to allow more space for sharing.
• Reminder to leave space and time for prayer and witness

Sermon Summary

• Main Idea: We are called to be a spiritual and missional community.
• Jerusalem (spiritual) vs Antioch (Missional)
• Challenge of our discipleship approach:
  • Heavy on head
  • light on heart
  • confused hand
• The purpose of the Christian education is to transform the life of believers into Christ’s likeness, exemplified through their character, not their knowledge alone
• Reclaiming the gift of prophecy in the church by discerning the Holy Spirit in prayer and scripture
• Responding to the needs of our time by understanding the context that we are placed in
• Becoming a community of discernment meditating on God’s word and his creation
• Step out and become a sending community

Sermon Review

• Core theme: We are called to be a spiritual and missional community
• Main Takeaway: Practice discernment and become a sending community. Be spiritual companions to those around us to become more Christlike.
• Sermon Review questions:
  • What are the common pitfalls of our discipleship approach? (head, heart, hand)?
  • How did the people of Antioch come to be known as Christians?
• Discussion Questions:
  • Introductory
    • Testimony Sharing:
      • How did you come to be a part of GCGC and this cell? Do you see God’s hand in this?
  • Exploratory (4-6 people)
    • Who was/is your spiritual companion?
    • Who are you a spiritual companion to?
    • What are the needs of our time?
      • What do you think is the most pressing needs in the communities and people around us?
  • In Depth (2/3 people)
    • What do you see in others?
      • God’s grace and their likeness to Christ
      • How “good” they are? (Superficially)
    • How is God call you to be missional?
      • What is God call you to offer up for his Kingdom?
• Additional questions:
  • How can God help us contribute to form a church that is strong both spiritually and missionally?
  • What are we finding meaning in recently?
  • How can we trust and find meaning in Him?
  • Time is valuable. Where are we investing our time?
  • How can the love of God compel us? (compel us to do what, in reflection?)

Witness

• Urbana: Are you a young adult interested in missions and discovering God’s plan and purpose for you? Join the team going to Urbana this year and reach out to Pastor Santos for more details!
• Thanksgiving Event: Dinner at Church on October 10th 6:30 – 9:30 pm
  • Sign up for the Thanksgiving event here via this Form
• Help Needed for Adult Zone!
  • We’re looking for help in the following specific areas:
    • Administration – Help organize zone wide information
    • Cell Planners – help review sermons and create biweekly cell plans!
• Bible Reading:
  • This year, we will be going through a 2 year bible reading plan together. Access to plan at gcgcny.link/readbible. Use this to share regularly in your cell about what you’re hearing from God.
• Prayer and Outreach
  • As discussed in our last meeting, we will be shifting outreach to be a zone wide initiative to encourage similar life stage members to partner together to witness to their friends, with cell being a place for them to join once they are ready to be a part of the community, as part of this shift:
    • New Outreach Chat to invite others along when you are looking to do something with friends
    • Establish prayer partners
      • Suggestion: Monthly same gender rotations to encourage biweekly checkins to strengthen relationships.
      • Note that the above is a suggestion and may not be the best approach based on the make up of your cell, pray and discern how best to approach this for the benefit of your cell