Prayer, Goals, and Spiritual Parenting
By Karen Hurston
I
was curious. Thousands of small churches dot the vast country of India. Yet
each weekend 18,000 people-men dressed in colorful shirts and women in graceful
saris-joyfully throng into seven worship services held in New Life Assembly of
God. An estimated 85% of India's largest congregation also participate in more
than 1,900 weekly cell groups, meeting throughout the city of Chennai (formerly
called Madras).
Each
time I had spoken with the gentle yet dynamic David Mohan, New Life's founder
and senior pastor, he credited their cell groups with New Life's retention and
rapid growth. Mohan further sparked my curiosity: in the midst of a mainly
Hindu country scattered with small churches, how has one cell church grown won
so many people to Jesus and grown so large? I wanted to find out for myself.
So, when I was invited to speak to an annual gathering of Bible college
presidents in Bangalore, I immediately accepted. A visit to New Life would only
be a short plane ride away.
DILIGENCE IN PRAYER AND FASTING
What
I found during my week's visit at New Life thrilled and challenged me. In each
worship service I observed or spoke, Mohan gave substantial time to corporate
unison prayer. During a weekly Tuesday evening meeting, I watched group leaders
huddle and pray with their area staff pastors and other section leaders. During
New Life's weekly Friday night prayer service, I joined group leaders and
others in lengthy seasons of ardent prayer, especially for salvation of the
lost.
Each
group leader I met talked of spirited times in his or her own devotional life.
When I spoke with Vasantha, typical of New Life's nearly 500 section leaders,
she quickly pointed to the importance of prayer and fasting, reporting several
salvations, healings and miracles that resulted.
During
an early morning prayer meeting at New Life I sat near the back, praying and
pondering. Two nights before, I had talked with Sam, a sectional leader over
three men's group he had multiplied from his own group. Sam excitedly shared
about the power of prayer in groups. Three men had recently made salvation
decisions. Raja's diabetes had caused a sore on his ankle so severe that he
often could not walk; after a month of their group's consistent prayer, Raja is
walking again. Five formerly jobless men in one of their groups are now
employed, and Stephen's child was healed of typhoid fever the week after his
group banded together and prayed.
Knowledge
of small group dynamics is good. Reading numerous books about groups is
beneficial. But nothing can take the place of a leader and group who join in
fervent, caring, persistent prayer. Nothing
can bring breakthrough like diligence in prayer and fasting.
ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH NUMERIC GOALS
Prayer
needs specific focus. When I went to New Life's expansive office to talk with
Mohan and his wife Getzial, I walked into several cubicles, each one designated
for an area pastor who was then gone to visit leaders and members. Every
cubicle I saw had one similar item, a listing of that area pastor's numeric
goals for the month.
New
Life's five regional pastors oversee 65 area pastors. Each staff pastor sets
four types of annual numeric goals, further divided into monthly goals: number
of salvations; number of water baptisms; number of "Holy Spirit
baptisms"; and number of new groups to be added.
But,
I wondered, are these numeric goals necessary? Is it not enough to pray that
God's will be done, and do the best one can? When I shared my questions with
Mohan, he paused and simply stated, "We Christians must be responsible. We
must be accountable."
New
Life's stress on accountability filters through its leaders. Because New Life's pastoral staff is
prayerfully goal-driven, so are those with whom they serve. Volunteer sectional
leaders also set goals in the dynamic 5x5 geographical system, as do the group
leaders and assistants.
Those
numeric goals are the target of group prayer, many leaders joyfully telling of
the salvations that have resulted. Consider Jude, leader of a men's group. Jude
reminded me that every numeric goal represents people, each one precious to
Jesus. He told about Freddie, who had been a cocaine addict for ten years, and
Nelson, an addict for eight. They started going to Jude's group regularly, and
within two months they had not only given their lives to Jesus, but also now
live drug free.
As
I later spoke with some of New Life's regional pastors, my thoughts wandered.
If our prayers are general, without specific focus, could we be guilty of
"sloppy agape," saying that we want to see the lost saved, but only
giving lip service to God's chief priority? Shouldn't every group have
responsible and accountable Christians who prayerfully set numeric goals for
reaching the lost?
TRAINED AND DESIGNATED "SPIRITUAL PARENTS”
Prayer
and goals demand workable strategy. New Life's primary strategy is for every
group to have two designated "spiritual parents," a practice they
learned from Trinity Christian Centre, a strong cell church in Singapore. Each
designated spiritual parent first goes through 13 weeks of training with topics
that range from God's apostolic community, to the leadership structure of the
cell-based church, to relational evangelism and nurture and the five-step
spiritual parenting plan.
1. Target. While the group leader
guides the entire group, the sole aim of the spiritual parent is to focus on
two to three target unbelievers in his sphere of influence. Kanaparathenakumar
(we'll refer to him as "Mr. K"), a spiritual parent in a men's group,
noticed Srinivasan, a co-worker in his office, and put him on his target list.
2. Intercede. Mr. K started praying for Srinivasan, that God would bring him to
salvation, rallying the group to do the same. "Prayer," I was
repeatedly told, "must bathe every effort, especially reaching the
lost."
3. Associate. Mr. K tried to talk with Srinivasan as often as he could. Mr. K soon discovered that Srinivasan's
superstitious upbringing had resulted in great fear. Everything seemed to frighten Srinivasan. The more Mr. K learned
about his target friend, the more specifically he knew to pray for him.
4. Lead to decision. During one conversation, Mr. K finally told
Srinivasan, "I know the one God Who can solve all your problems." He
gave Srinivasan a Bible, and asked him to read it, even if he just looked
through it casually. Nobody else had
offered the fearful man such hope, so Srinivasan slowly read portions of
Scripture. The Bible made life understandable to Srinivasan, and he began to
accept what he read as truth. When Mr.
K asked him to attend the men's cell group meeting, Srinivasan went.
Srinivasan
found the group "friendly and hospitable." He enjoyed discussing the
Bible passages studied, and was especially interested when people gave reports
of healings and the differences God made in their lives. He soon asked Jesus to
be Lord of his life, and became a regular member of the same men's cell who had
prayed for his salvation.
5. Nurture. But it is not enough to lead one to
salvation. Jesus told us to "make disciples." Mr. K and the cell
group kept encouraging Srinivasan.
Within six months Srinivasan started training to become a spiritual
parent himself. After two and one-half years, Srinvisan became the group
leader's assistant, anxious to soon lead a group himself.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
What
would God say to you through the example of the cell groups in India's largest
church? Would He encourage you to deepen your own prayer life and that of your
group? Would He challenge your group to believe Him for a specific number of
people to reach in His name this next six months? Would He guide one or two
people in your group to become diligent "spiritual parents," their
entire role focused on winning target lost people to Jesus? What would God say?
A SHORT HISTORY. Mohan and his
wife Getzial, along with missionary David Stewart, Sr. began New Life in 1973,
with seven members meeting in a small home. By 1987, nearly 2,000 people weekly
joined in a new church building on one of Chennai's main city roads. But all
was not right: as much as Mohan wanted to disciple each person himself, he was
limited. Many of the same people coming in through New Life's "front
door" were also soon leaving through their "back door."
Mohan soon began a three-year prayerful search for something to incorporate
people into the local church and to bring them to maturity in Christ.
In
1990 Mohan met Naomi Dowdy, pastor of Trinity Christian Center in Singapore.
Trinity's cell church example inspired Mohan; he felt he had finally found his
church's solution. Soon a Trinity team conducted a training series that
helped transform New Life's 60 prayer cells into open cell groups, termed
"carecells." Each carecell was to have a leader, assistant, and, in
time, two designated "spiritual parents."
Four
years later, under Mohan's empassioned leadership, New Life had completed its
transition into a prayer-based cell church. By 1994 New Life had 700 cells, an
attendance that had climbed to 7,000, and a growing multiple staff that would
identify, develop and mentor lay leaders. By June of 2001, eleven years after
New Life began its transition to a cell church, it reported 1,880 cell groups
with
18,000 attending seven Saturday and Sunday worship services.
--
Randall Neighbour <randall@touchusa.org>
TOUCH Outreach Ministries, The Cell Group People!
P.O. Box 19888
Houston, TX 77224-9888 USA
Ph. 281-497-7901
Fx. 281-497-0904
CELLGROUP
JOURNAL
Volume 10, Number 4 Fall 2001 page 5-6