|
St. Martin's
took the decision to become a cell church in
1998. Prior to that there had been a lot of
discussion and planning. The church elected
to run a pilot cell for a limited time to
try out methods and materials. The
favourable result of this pilot, convinced
the church that the cell approach was a
positive way towards the realisation of our
vision for both the church and the
community. The PCC reinforced that decision
in April 2000 during the interregnum and
decided to include it in the parish profile. The major
focus in the cells is supporting Christians
in their lives, places of work,
neighbourhoods, families, to witness in word
and deed to the love of Christ. Part of
being a cell church is to spend time in
small groups, where care and prayer can be
more focused. This does not rule out the
Sunday services -which in any case, as a
parish church we have an obligation to
provide. But what can and does happen, is
that what could only be shallow and passive
moments between people in a public service,
now have the opportunity to develop into
deeper relationships, thus encouraging the
mutual strengthening of personal faith.
All cell
members have been encouraged to serve in the
Sunday services, acting as welcomers,
reading the lessons, praying the
intercessions, making the refreshments and
providing a prayer ministry during some 11am
Holy Communion services. This has made it
possible for several cell members to
discover hidden gifts.
A recent thorough review
of the cells structure resulted in the PCC
making the decision to move away from the
from the cell church concept. It has been a
hard decision but as a church we have learnt
a great deal.
NEW MID-WEEK FELLOWSHIP
GROUPS
Following the PCC decision for the church to
move away from the cell model, we hope to
begin some new mid-week fellowship groups
for anybody who is interested. These groups
will run by themselves -every member
ministry. They will probably meet on Tuesday
evenings, three times a month. The purpose
of the groups is to provide mutual
fellowship in the form of prayer, small
group worship and/or Bible study as we try
to live out and work out our Christian faith
within our families, workplaces, social
networks and communities. Exactly how they
will operate will be up to the individual
groups to work out!
AN INVITATION : THREE IFs
IF you have never been in a fellowship
group, cell or house group, now might the
time to consider joining one of the new
mid-week groups. IF you have not been in one
for a while, now could be the time to pick
it up again. IF you have been in a cell, we
very much hope you will sign up for a new
group. Everyone is invited.
It is
likely that the new mid-week fellowship
groups could start meeting late January
2008.
0161 431 7051
|
© 2002-2007
The Parish Church of Saint Martin, Norris Bank, STOCKPORT
