It seems self evident that any church which senses that one of its key values and dynamics is community, and which believes it has a vocation to grow, must give attention to the role of small groups. Many would agree that community is the church’s strongest suit in today’s fragmented culture. The Vision and Values exercise in 2006 only highlighted the sense many of us had beforehand: community is probably the key energising dynamic, under God, at work in the church at Seasalter.
Cell is essentially a way of thinking about church which places emphasis on nurturing small, communities, or cells, at the heart of church life. Cell is a way of widening and deepening an experience which many of our church family already value.
‘The inherited approach’ is the one that many Anglican Christians understand intuitively. The church is led by a vicar and perhaps other ordained people, or these days others in key roles. When a church is in this Pastoral mode, its ability to grow is limited by the numbers of people those in key roles can know, nurture and care for. In this way many churches encounter a numerical ceiling. No amount of striving will break through the ceiling – you may get new people in, but you will lose old ones out of the back door just as quickly.
The usual method of responding to this is twofold: you engage more ministers, usually paid, and you devise more programmes to nurture the church. For this reason churches in this mode are known as Programme based churches. There will be programmes for nurture (like Emmaus), for evangelism (like Alpha), for pastoral care (such as visiting teams, welcoming teams and the Pastoral Network), for children and young people – and so on. The list is endless – and the danger of burnout among committed church members is very real.
Programme churches have traditionally relied on home groups to create opportunities for friendship and learning. In a church of over 200 people it is crucial to have places where one can know people and be known.
The National Context
The notion of ‘fresh expressions of church’ has gained international currency since the publication of Mission shaped church in 2004. The central insight is that there is a mission imperative for the church to shape itself in a way which is hospitable and appropriate towards its cultural context. The need for the UK church to do this is urgent and undeniable.
Cell Church is one of the fresh expressions described in Mission shaped church, but it is more than just one choice among a number of options. Cell can be the basis for many of the other fresh expressions described and in practice is often seen as the most helpful structure for church plants, youth congregations, network churches and other fresh expressions.
In the Church of England it is therefore now widely accepted that there is an urgent need for churches to pioneer fresh expressions, not just for the sake of their own mission, but for the learning of the whole church. In the diocese of Canterbury there are presently 3 emerging Cell Churches, in Deal, Margate and Cranbrook, in addition to St Alphege, Seasalter. The diocesan synod of May 2006 agreed the appointment of a half time missioner for fresh expressions of church, the leader of a pioneering Cell Plant in Margate. The Bishop of Dover has made plain to me his own support for St Alphege, Seasalter as a church well placed to use Cell as a sustainable basis for its continued growth.
St Alphege, Seasalter ~ walking together in faith
...
.
