“There’s more to Cell life than Cell meetings”.

The simplest way to meet a Cell is to join them on a Party Night, a Buffet Supper, a Theatre Trip, a Picnic, or any other of the dozens of ways that Cells share their life with the wider network. You don’t sign up in any formal way when you join a Cell, any more than you do when you join a family. But there are a range of expectations that you hold for one another. The Cell is a support network. It’s a set of relationships, which, if you want, can help to hold you accountable for your own personal and spiritual growth.

Although each Cell is different, when they meet for one of their regular gatherings, there are a number of familiar components. If “Supportive Relationships” is the key to understanding Cell life, then Cell gatherings can best be understood by the classic “Four W’s” framework:

• Welcome.
• Worship.
• Word.
• Witness.

Welcome is a way of life. Hospitality is a value. “Entertaining angels without knowing it” is a lovely biblical picture of the outworking of that value. The Cell is a place where you know you are accepted and will be listened to, with the expectation that you’ll do your share of listening in turn!

Worship means knowing that you’re not self-sufficient. Its orienting your life around something, someone, that’s greater, more complete, more whole, than yourself. Its rather more than praying prayers and singing songs.

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