I have always being very concerned about spiritual growth of the cell members. The notion that if they attend enough cell group meetings and heard enough spiritual truths, spiritual growth will tend to happen.
But in real life, some members may grow spiritually while others may not. As cell leader, one of the main things that I do on a regular basis is to teach the cell members about biblical truths and most importantly how they can apply these biblical truths to their lives. It has always been the application. Spiritual growth happens when they apply biblical truths in their lives. But in reality, they may not apply these spiritual truths as often as I would like them to.
Is there something missing? It is not just the teaching of spiritual truths which to some of the members, they have already knew these truths but yet you don’t see much spiritual growth. In this module I learnt about the role of being a facilitator. I, as a facilitator can only facilitate. Henry Cloud in the book together with John Townsend (Making Small Group Works) emphasized that our job is simply to help make certain things happen. The facilitator provides the environment and the proper ingredients so that growth can happen. But we can’t engineered growth as much as we like to. I can only plant the seeds in their lives and it is God who would cause the growth. It is ultimately God through the power of His Holy Spirit to cause the growth in a person’s life. The member’s lives are being transformed when God used the spiritual truths together with the power of the Holy Spirit to work in and through the person. Cell members can help to spur one another to growth by sharing their own life’s experiences. This is the value that community of small group brings. When we do life together, we can go far in our walk in God.
In this module, I was tasked to work on the common issues faced in small groups and we did a presentation on this. As I pondered and read the various books and materials, I gathered that when people from different backgrounds and different experiences come together as a community, there will tend to be tensions due to different personalities and as a facilitator, you will need to be sensitive to the needs of the cell members in order to build them up to be an authentic community.
One of the most discussed issue is probably about conflicts. Many, including myself will tend to avoid conflicts as they see conflicts as obstacles and try to avoid them as much as possible. One book (Gladen, Steve, Leading Small Groups with Purpose) mentioned that “conflict is like the dashboard of the car and when the warning lights come on, your car needs attention. When you have conflicts in your group, it’s not a bad thing; it’s simply a warning telling you that your group needs attention.” Conflicts are opportunities for growth for the cell members towards authentic relationships. The dissatisfaction with someone or something in the group is often the catalyst for conflict and change and for consensus to develop. Conflicts can be discussed within the group or outside the group depending on the nature of the conflicts. One thing I learnt is to confront because I care. I care enough to want to settle the conflicts in the group. Facing conflict is not going to be easy but our status in Christ gives us the freedom to confront it even though we sometimes know we will be hurt. There should be no winner or loser in resolving conflicts but rather to work towards creative solutions that will help the whole group. For me, there are still skill sets that I have to learn to be a peacemaker to help cell members resolve conflicts.
The purpose in my mind has always been to build disciples for Christ. That in a sense has been the guiding principle for me as a cell leader. To teach what I have learnt and teach them to “reliable people” who will in turn be able to teach others also. (2 Tim 2:2). But the one thing that I have been wanting to do in recent years is not just to teach these “reliable people” but also consciously to have some form of leadership development to develop future leaders or facilitator. We cannot continue to facilitate without any set purpose or agenda in mind. We need to set this goal in place and let all cell members know that ultimately the group must multiplied and grow and that’s the aim of doing cells. Healthy cell grows by growing into more cells. I need to personally model leadership development in my church and ministry and help the cell members in my group to discover and develop God’s callings in their lives. The privilege of being a cell leader is to see transformed lives and cell member fulfilling God’s calling in their lives. That’s the joy and the motivation in my calling as a cell leader!
Alvin Goh
Alvin Goh SOAP Blog 