What is the purpose of the cell vision in Kensington Temple? The answer is surprisingly simple. The cell groups exist to minister to and facilitate the spiritual life and growth of the members.

Cell groups possess the mitochondria DNA of the early Church that gathered together in homes. They are designed to provide a safe and secure environment for members to step up and respond to the call of God on their lives. The potential of our cell groups as a platform for spiritual growth is immeasurable.

At the heart of the cell group is the keen desire to foster genuine, healthy and deep relationships. This is vital as it ensures the cell groups remain purposeful and channel the growth of the spiritual lives of all members.

However, we must remain mindful this can only be achieved relationally where a strong culture is developed. Culture is crucial to our overall success as it shapes our values and beliefs together in community that produces Godly characteristics in our lives. At this point, trust, a strong sense of belonging and community is demonstrated. This gives birth to endless opportunities to develop intentional, deep, and lasting relationships that aren’t hollow but have real substance.

The structure our cell groups offer helps shape the ministry of KT. The cell groups are positioned to play a central role in helping fulfil the mission of the church. Simply stated, the cell groups are the basic means by which ‘Church’ happens!

The overarching hope is that if the cell groups are strong, united and flourishing spiritually, the members will become ambassadors and change agents in their spheres of influence. It is here that calling, ministry gifts and motivation for fulfilling Ephesians 2:10 emerges from, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The cell groups are the training ground for doing life with one another. In today’s western world, people crave genuine care and attention. Sunday Christianity is blatantly insufficient and a clear violation of the New Testament in Scripture.

This current climate can be reversed we adopt the vision Jesus had with intimate gatherings. This means the communities we join and engage with must stand up for something. The clear mandate for us is to make, mature, and mobilise disciples of Jesus Christ.

For us to achieve this, we must practice doing life together, connecting consistently between regular meetings, foster friendships, build depth to those friendships and encourage one another. When we cultivate Christ-centred community, we facilitate divine opportunities for believers to fully mature in their calling.

A word of caution. We must guard against allowing cliques to emerge from the cell groups. That is not the purpose or goal of the cell groups. If that occurs, we lose sight of the overall mission statement of the Church which is ‘London and the World for Christ’, and at best the cell group becomes a holy huddle, or a mutual appreciation society. Not God’s plan.

As believers, we know that life happens and therefore we all need a weekly reminder and recalibration of our hearts towards the Gospel. It is in these cell gatherings that our moral compass is re-orientated and we gain more profound appreciation that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves, and this gives us spiritual solidarity.

This leads to the vision of the Church being achieved through the cell groups. The cell groups should become the breeding ground of ministry formed at the cutting edge of mission. This is achieved as we construct a bridge between the Sunday’s services to minimise risk of losing contact with each other throughout the week.

Our overarching focus must be to understand that Jesus spent the majority of his time with a small but significant group of chosen disciples. This is the ultimate example Jesus demonstrates to us, and if it is his example, it is something worth following.

This article is taken from a longer piece of work by Scott; you can read his full essay HERE (Copyright. All rights reserved)