In 1978, a total 26,386 people decided to become members of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea, with 75% of the number being new converts. During that same year the church added one new small group every four hours.

By 1981, both rates increased: there was one new member added every 7 minutes, and one new group every 1 2 hours. During the first six months of 1981, 52,000 people committed their lives to Jesus Christ; cell leaders accompanied seven out of ten of that number to church with them. The positive influence of Yoido Full Gospel Church's cell system continued to grow.

The story is simple and often told. From a physical collapse in 1964, the young pastor, Dr. David Cho, found himself confined to his bed. He searched Scripture to find how he could then care for his congregation of 3,000. He read the account of Moses and Jethro in Exodus 18:13-26, and searched the New Testament. He repeatedly noticed the phrase "church in the home," and soon talked to gathered leaders about starting small groups which would meet in homes across the city. His male deacons refused, feeling unprepared and too busy. However, the female deaconesses accepted the challenge, and started the first 20 groups. For various reasons, those first groups failed.

Dr. Cho decided to persist despite the problems, and three years later there were 125 groups ministering to a membership of 7,750. By 1980 there were a total of 10,000 different cells in a membership that had climbed to 133,000. By April of 1998 a total of 26,184 cell groups ministered to a membership of 739,067.

So what are the elements which have resulted in a cell system that has brought growth and retention to the world's largest church? There are five major elements: 1) homogenous groups, 2) priority in the cell system to prayer and God's Word, 3) prayer visits, 4) a modeling pastoral staff, 5) and leaders who prayerfully and intentionally set significant goals for themselves, and challenge their leaders to do the same.

Throughout the years YFGC developed four types of homogenous groups--groups where most people are similar in gender and occupation. This has aided the evangelistic effort of the groups. Group members easily know who to target: people like those in their group. While neighborhood geography determines the boundaries of a group's influence, groups themselves are homogenous, with most able to walk to their neighborhood group meeting.

The men's groups began in 1968, and by April of 1998 there were 4,080 of these men's groups. While a portion of the men's groups meet in offices and businesses, the bulk also meet in homes.

The children's groups were added in 1978, and an estimated 70% of the more than 15,000 children involved in these 657 groups come from homes where the parents are not believers. These groups form one of the most evangelistic outreaches of the church. The children themselves do the bulk of the outreach, bringing friends to the teacher's neighborhood home to "hear about Jesus."

Youth groups began in 1980 for single adult factory workers who could not participate in the regular men's and women's cells. Nearly 20 years later, 418 of these cells minister to young adults ranging in age from 21 to 35. The diligent members of one youth cell so impressed the management of a confectionery factory that they asked the church to send them more people "just like those youth cell members" for workers.

But the most prevalent groups--in April of 1998 numbering 21,029--remain the women's groups. Since the majority of married women in South Korea are full-time homemakers, most still meet in women's groups. The women and homemakers in these groups reach out to other women and homemakers, leading to the phrase repeated often in YFGC: "The secret to winning a family to Jesus is to start with the wife." Even now women of the church have a reputation for "praying their husbands through" to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Prayer is to initiate and permeate both ministry in the cell and evangelism to unbelievers. One written survey completed by more than 400 cell leaders showed their typical cell leader prays an hour a day, and more than half the cell leaders also attend one all-night prayer meeting each week. In addition, many cell leaders also fast for specific unbelievers to come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The cell meetings themselves have several prayer times, with a special focus on praying for those with needs and problems.

Through the years, focus on God's Word has remained central to both church worship services and the cell meetings. Believers often repeat Romans 10:17: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17).

Contrary to what many believe, this church has never used the previous Sunday sermon as the cell material. Currently the cell groups use a new inductive Bible study series, always with the aim to help participants apply God's Word in their daily lives.

One person who discovered the importance of applying God's Word is Kyongboon Shin. Kyongboon hated her father, and had frequently told him so, for he had mistreated her mother and had gambled away family finances.

At one weekly cell meeting, the lesson text was on the importance of forgiveness and the danger of holding bitterness. For the first time, Kyongboon clearly understood that because Jesus Christ had forgiven her, she was to forgive others. During the time of group prayer, Kyongboon asked Jesus to help her, and she chose to forgive her father.

The following week, Kyongboon contacted her father and told him about her change of heart. He was delighted. Kyongboon invited him to church, and for the first time he readily accepted. The next Sunday, Kyongboon's father accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

"I didn't realize it then," Kyongboon said, "but my bitterness affected how I acted, and had blocked my father from coming to Jesus. My forgiveness paved the way for his salvation. My family has never been happier. I am so grateful for the Bible truths I learn in my cell meetings."

YFGC highly values not only what happens during group meetings, but also what group leaders do between group meetings. For this reason, staff pastors encourage leaders to make "prayer visits" to group participants and target unbelievers between group meetings. Most group leaders not only coordinate a weekly meeting, but a survey of more than 400 cell leaders showed that the typical cell leader also makes three to five "prayer visits" to members homes each week. This practice greatly increases the "one another" dynamic in those cells, a chief reason for their vitality.

What happens in all these visits? Staff pastors and lay leaders agree the reading of Scripture and prayer are top priority. One added, "The most important thing to do before going on a visit is to pray. Sometimes God will impress you with the real problem you will face, even before you go. We have found it best to pray for at least one hour before making visits."

While the average cell leader prays for one hour daily, the typical staff pastor prays for at least two hours. While the average cell leader makes three to five prayer visits a week, the typical staff pastor makes 91 prayer visits each month.

More than 700 full-time pastoral staff members start their days five mornings a week in prayer and reporting, then spend eight hour days making prayer visits to leaders and members Calways accompanied by at least one lay leader. In this way staff pastors model values and desired behaviors to leaders in homes and businesses, not just from behind pulpits and lecterns.

Staff pastors never ask lay leaders to do anything they are not already doing themselves. From its inception the church has placed a high value on making prayer visits, and once a year holds "Grand Home Visitation." During this three-month Grand Home Visitation, staff pastors personally visit every member's home, accompanied by the lay leaders who also minister and care for that person or family.

I remember the pastoral staff of 220 making 70,000 prayer visits in one month of Grand Home Visitation; now the staff makes nearly a quarter million visits in three months. Such active pastoral modeling in the field is one of the most important factors in their groups' effectiveness.

The church challenges each group to win one person to Jesus every six months. Cells are also to target an area and set goals. YFGC considers God-prompted visions, dreams, and goals to be part of the language of the Holy Spirit. Each cell leader is to pray that God will give him a specific number whom he and his group are to win to Jesus Christ that year. Each year staff pastors also set evangelistic goals for their districts, encouraging the lay leaders with whom they work to do the same.

One goal-oriented cell leader grew discouraged when she visited the apartments in her building, and doors were repeatedly slammed in her face. As she later prayed to God about her frustration, she sensed the Holy Spirit gently say, "Just show them love."

So she went to the one place where most people in that high-rise apartment building had to go: the elevator. She rode up and down the elevator two to three hours every day. When someone entered the elevator, she greeted them with a smile and a kind word. If a woman had groceries or restless children, she helped carry anything she could. This cell leader showed love in every way possible, and people eventually began responding. As she established caring relationships with her neighbors, many of them invited her to their apartments for refreshments and conversation. She later invited them to her next cell meeting. Within two months, one person came to the Lord, and within a year, she and newly converted Christian homemakers led more than 100 people to Jesus in that apartment complex.

Karen Hurston grew up in what became the world's largest church, and since returning to the states, is a speaker and church growth consultant with specialization in three areas: prayer, cell groups, and visitation.

"Strategies for Today's Leader", Vol. 36, No. 2, Spring 1999, Pages 15-17
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