The Cell Cycle

The stages in the life of a cell

Stage	Acquaintance	Conflict	Community	Outreach	Multiplication
Other names	Forming Birth	Storming Childhood	Norming Teenage	Performing Maturing	Reforming Death
Goal	Getting Acquainted	Honesty and worship	Edification	Outreach and ministry	Smooth division
Focus	Group Members focus on the reason for the group	Self Members focus on what the group can do for them	Christ Members lay personal needs down and focus on Christ	The Lost Christ turns the attention of the group outward into ministry	Growth the group experiences cell growth and multiplication
Problems	Insufficient time given to getting to know people and helping everyone feel comfortable	Focus doesn’t go on to Christ in worship, reluctance to divulge information	Members struggle to look beyond their own needs	Potential to stagnate once community is formed, if leader doesn’t set goals to focus group outwards	Reluctance to keep changing and moving on and to leaving developed friendships
Strategy	State purpose and goals   Longer icebreakers   Encouraging openess   Social events	Face conflict positively   Covenant relationships   Create ownership     Building trust	Facilitate use of gifts   Accountable relationships   Evangelism Strategy   Develop assistant	Relational evangelism   Hand over to assistant   Interest groups     Prayer walks	Choose new assistants   Celebrate growth     Communicate   and plan ahead   Multiply
Cell	Pseudo-community	Reality	Sacrificial love in community	Fruit of community	New cells

Explanation of Table

 

The Cell Cycle is the stages in the life of a cell. All functional groups will be somewhere along the cell cycle

 

Cell leaders need to:

Recognise the stages – each has its own opportunities and problems

Know how to work with each stage – what is God doing in your cell?

Prepare the group for the different stages so members know what is going on

 

How the Ws Vary Depending on Stage:

 

Acquaintance stage: Allow more time for Welcome to help develop friendship and lay the foundations for community and fellowship in the Holy Spirit.

 

Conflict stage: More time spent in Worship to emphasise the focus is Jesus and the cell creates ownership despite differences.

 

Community stage: More time for applying the Word as the focus shifts to Christ’s power at work in the cell.

 

Outreach stage: More time spent on the Witness as the cell realises Christ’s purpose.

 

Multiplication stage: More time given to Welcome and Witness to combine people feeling welcome into the community, but maintaining the momentum for mission.

 

Community Will Change…

Recognise when the cell is getting stuck at a stage and strategise with assistant leader and Fusion Associate for ways of moving the group on.

The conflict stage when handled well and with sacrificial love opens up the potential for the cell to operate as a Christ centred community in the next stage. It is a time for meeting up with cell members outside the group who are involved in the conflict or distressed at watching it going on. For some, conflict is such a problem that they will stop coming along to meetings. This is often the first sign that you are in the conflict stage. Numbers drop off and you will hear from others that the group is no longer working. Spend time explaining that this is a good and healthy time and that you are becoming like family. Who has ever heard of a family without conflict? Allow the group to talk it through. Do a lot of listening and encouraging. Get help from your Fusion Associate if you feel out of your depth.

 

If the group fails to perform in the outreach stage it will stagnate. Reiterating the value of mission and multiplication is essential if it is to be an inclusive outward looking community.

 

Not many groups go through these the stages of the cell cycle in a linear way. A group might move forward through to community and then back into conflict when a deeper issue surfaces. If someone new joins the group it will tend to revisit the forming stage for a meeting or two before moving on.

 

If the group never:

Forms             there will be no community

Storms             there will be no honesty or vulnerability

Norms             there will be no personal growth

Performs          there will be no new life

Reforms           there will be no numeric growth

 

Discuss.... 

What stage is your cell at?

Is your cell aware of the cell cycle?

What challenges do you face in this stage?

How are you working towards the next stage?