Young people in the cells?

For years, small groups for Bible study and prayer have been a common feature of church life, as they have been in student Christian Unions.

They are a valuable means of cultivating fellowship between people at a deeper level than can be achieved by larger and more formal meetings. Small, informal groups have also long proved to be useful in evangelism.

Selling the cell

Now, however, new types of small groups are being advocated and referred to as 'cell groups'. They are claimed to be of strategic importance both for the nurture of Christians and for evangelism. Some are talking of 'cell churches' in which the chief feature of church life is such small groups. Rather than being an adjunct to the larger meetings of the church, they constitute the fundamental units that make up the larger whole.
Here, however, I am largely concerned with the application of cell group principles to youth work. This is being urged, by some, as the way forward in youth ministry - in churches or para-church movements - and as the best hope of halting the drift of young people away from the churches and Christianity. The arguments sound persuasive and the claims for success seem impressive.
We tend to react in one of three ways to the latest claim to holding the key to successful ministry. We either take it on board with little critical evaluation: 'It seems to work better than anything we do and lots of people are adopting it.' Or we dismiss it out of hand: 'We've always done things this way, and the fact that we do not seem to be very effective only goes to prove that we are being faithful!' Or we simply ignore it and hope it will go away, but we may be overtaken by events.
So should we transform our YP - if not much of the rest of our church life - into cells? Should we mind if we see less and less of our young folk because they are spending more and more of their time in para-church cell groups? And if we do not buy into the whole idea, are there nevertheless useful things we can learn from what is being so enthusiastically advocated?

Basic ideas

What are the basic concepts? Cells should consist of 5 - 15 people meeting together every week. Each cell should have a leader and, as soon as possible, an 'apprentice leader'. In the case of youth cells, these leaders are themselves young people. Peer leadership is regarded as an essential element in the structure. Cell members are encouraged to invite their friends and to expect the cells to grow. As they do so, the cells divide into two, the new cell being led by the person who was previously the apprentice leader.
Cell meetings are essentially informal. They are not Bible studies as such, nor prayer meetings, although elements of both may be included. A commonly used pattern divides the meetings into four parts: Welcome, Worship, Word and Witness. The first part is designed to get people to relax and feel part of the group. Some kind of icebreaker might be used. Worship may include singing, prayer, the reading of a Psalm and testimony. In the third part, emphasis is placed on applying truth to the lives of the individuals within the group. Finally, Witness might include discussion of how to reach out to non-Christian friends and pray with them. Within this rather loose structure, there is left a great deal of scope for spontaneity and for participation by all the cell group members.

People-centred

The cultivation of real relationships, characterised by honesty, openness and vulnerability (the latter word is stressed repeatedly in the literature) is one of the main advantages claimed for cell groups of this kind. Another is the opportunity they provide for many young people to get experience of the responsibilities of leadership and for all the rest to be involved and to contribute.
Marvin Jacobo, a Mexican who works with a Baptist Church in California and is a leading light in the cell group movement, talks about it 'handing ministry back to the people'. Another advocate, Billy Kennedy based in Southampton, speaks of peer-led cell groups being 'less programme-orientated and more people-orientated'. Young people in particular, it is claimed, have been alienated by the more traditional approach of meetings being led from the front by 'professionals'. A further positive aspect is the emphasis on reaching out to others within the same peer group and the encouragement to expect numerical growth leading to cell multiplication.
There is a good deal in all of this which will ring bells with most evangelicals and not least those engaged in youth work. Indeed, at least in general terms, there is nothing very original about most of the underlying principles. To take but one example, student leadership has been a fundamental principle of UCCF's ministry for generations. The fruits of that emphasis have been seen not only in the CUs themselves, but in a succession of church leaders for whom a vital part of their preparation has been the experience of leading a CU. The newness and, for some perhaps, the cause of concern, lies in the emphasis being given to one particular way of working out these principles and some of the details which are being advocated by its chief proponents.

Peer leadership

Peer leadership can have real value and positive advantages. But its limitations need to be recognised, especially when we are thinking about young folk in their mid-teens. Whilst there are some things that suitable young leaders, with the right kind of support and advice, can do well, they can be no substitute for the influence, by teaching and example, of more mature Christians. It is certainly part of the outlook of our age that people want to discover things for themselves rather than to be taught by others; and that the young have little to learn from those who are older. In contrast, the Bible insists that we need to be taught and that the normal pattern is of the older teaching the younger. Timothy did not learn the faith from his mates but from his mother, his grandmother and the apostle Paul!

Down-playing the Bible

Perhaps the greatest concern should relate to this issue: the serious teaching of, and study of, the Bible. This seems to be downplayed by the advocates of cell groups. It is great to emphasise the importance of applying truth to people's lives. All Bible teachers need to hear that! But understanding has to come before application and peer-led cell groups are not well-placed to facilitate this. Indeed, some of the literature warns against the groups becoming Bible studies. There seems to be an over-reaction to a merely intellectual approach to the Bible and an over-valuing of spontaneity as though that alone gives the Holy Spirit liberty to work. These emphases perhaps reflect that within the 'Word' part of the cell group meetings, it is appropriate to share prophesies, pictures or impressions. This will be alarming to those who believe in the sufficiency of the Bible, as well as its unique authority.

Ageism

Part of the genius of the church in God's plan is that it consists of people of varying ages, experience and background. Ageism has no place in Christianity and Christians should not make concessions to it. God has also provided the church with those gifted to teach his word. That does not mean, of course, that only the 'teachers' teach. They do it to equip others 'for works of service' which, almost certainly, at least includes helping others in more informal ways to understand the Bible and how it applies to our lives.
None of this means that there is no place for young people's groups in our churches, nor for converted young people to be given important responsibilities in those groups. But we ought to discourage anything that tends to segregate young people from others. All of us need each other and we desperately need to learn to relate appropriately to each other. If the recommendations for cell groups are followed, they absorb a great deal of a young person's time: a weekly cell meeting, a monthly training session, and perhaps a monthly combined meeting with all the cells together. Other church involvement is likely to be squeezed out. The youngster's Christian life will easily become centred around cell life rather than church life. In the long run, that's not healthy.

Pick up the positives

Even if we do not decide to ditch much of what we are currently doing in order to set up cell groups, there are still important things that we can learn, or that we need to re-learn, from the arguments being urged in their favour. Honest and open relationships are of vital importance if Christian fellowship is to be meaningful and mutually beneficial. All Christians, not simply the specially trained or unusually gifted, have something to contribute for the benefit of their fellow believers. Church structures should encourage that to happen. Friendship is one of the most effective starting points for evangelism; and young people are best placed to do the initial work of reaching their own age group with the gospel. We need to recognise too that in an increasingly age-segregated culture, young people may well find it difficult to relate to older people; the onus is on us older folk in particular to work hard at making it easier. Finally, the Bible must be applied to people's real life situations.

Young people in the cells?

The positive value and the dangers of introducing cell groups among young people in churches