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"A Prayer for Persons Joined in Fellowship"
Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other's cross to bear,
Let all their friendly aid afford,
And feel each other's care.
Help us to build each other up,
Our little stock improve,
Increase our Faith, confirm our Hope,
And perfect us in Love.
Charles Wesley(1)
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Rock-the-Cradle Discussion Questions and Genogram Exercises
1. The Bible portrays Jesus Christ, argues Neal F. McBride, "as the greatest small group leader in history."(27) Would you agree?
2. According to historian Russell Richey, the basic question is where is Methodism most "at home?"
Will it be at home only in its buildings, under corporate management, controlled by pastors, programmed only from one center, hemmed in by local bureaucratic procedure, preoccupied with accountability? Or will Methodism re-enter the homes of its people, and more importantly, the people who need to hear its message? Will it move out of its buildings into its neighborhoods? Will it become again too dynamic, lay-centered and cooperative to be cooped up within a congregation? Will it reclaim its missional, flexible, adaptive, expansive, pluraform, de-centralized ecclesial principle?(28)
How would you answer Richey's question?
3. Take your group to the neighborhood coffee bar. How many different kinds of specialty coffees are being offered? Count how many different ways you can order what used to be a simple exchange of
"Coffee, please."
"Cream or sugar?"
My coffee order is "Tall latte double skinny, please." (That means a double shot of espresso served in latte [not cappuchino] fashion made with skimmed milk). One day I had said too many times "Tall latte double skinny, please" but found myself unable to resist a Starbucks. So I went in and asked for a "Tall latte double skinny sleeper, please." The attendant smiled at me and barked at her colleague at the expresso machine, "This guy wants a 'Why bother.'"
Maxwell House, Folgers, Nescafe and other mass brands that used cheap beans to make similar-tasting coffee are in trouble. These three brands, with a 90 percent share of the market as recently as 1987, have been trounced by gourmet roasters that have created more than one billion dollars in shareholder value. People want better-tasting, gourmet, flavored, specialty coffees. To order general coffee, you now have to ask for it: "Regular coffee, please."
In a world that demands quality, even in its coffee (hence the Starbucks phenomenon), on any Sunday morning, in any community across this nation, where is the worst coffee in town served?
What are the implications of "niche-or-be-niched for your church?
4. Someone once said that "temperamental musicians" were half temper and half mental. Should music ministers be dedicated to helping you to experience and glorify God? Or should they be devoted to teaching you to sing and appreciate "good music"?
5. Get a copy of the two translations mentioned above: Rappin' with Jesus and New International Readers Version, or any other versions you are interested in, and compare the birth narratives in Matthew's gospel.
6. Discuss the proposed five phases in the life-cycle of a small group or cell, according to Neal F. McBride in his important practical handbook on How to Build A Small Groups Ministry (Colorado Springs, Co.: NavPress, 1995).
1) Forming--birth and infancy (2-3 sessions)
2) Norming--childhood (6-7 sessions)
3) Conforming--adolescent (5-6 sessions)
4) Performing--maturity (30 sessions)
5) Reforming--old age and demise (5-6 sessions)
6) back to (1)
Use this hands-on handbook to build a cell ministry in your church.
7. There are numerous variations in home cell groups: home Bible studies, home fellowship groups, home cell groups, base-satellite units (missional house churches sponsored by a host church, usually meeting on Sunday morning in homes), house churches, and so forth. Which kinds do you already have in your church?
8. The magazine for the global cell church movement is called CellChurch Magazine(29). Each issues includes some sample "ice breakers" (e.g., "Where do you go or what do you do when life gets too stressful for you? Why?" or "When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? What did your parents want you to be?" or "What is one quality that you value or admire in one or more members of this group?" or "Does your name have a special meaning and or were you named after someone special?" or "If you could ask Christ to change one problem in the world today, what would you like Him to change?").
It also includes a sample "cell church" meeting agenda. Here is one from page 12 of the Winter 1996 issue:
Ice Breaker (10 Minutes)
Share with us something unique about your wedding, a wedding you went to, or a wedding you participated in.
Praise and Worship (25 Minutes) UP-REACH
Ask one person to read Psalm 108:1-6; if children are present in your group, ask them to read it in unison together for tea adults. Then, if you know it, sing the praise song taken from this passage: "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens and Thy glory above all the earth." Share in a season of praise prayers, using short sentences and enjoying being in God presence.
Topic for discussion
TOPIC: Matthew 25:1-13 (Go around the circle and have each person read a verse starting with Matthew 25:1 until you reach Matthew 25:13. Ask these questions for discussion.
1. Who is the bridegroom?
2. Who are the ten virgins?
3. What does the oil represent?
4. In what ways can we be ready for the Second Coming?
Ministry (35 Minutes) IN-REACH
If there are some non-Christians in your group: At the final wedding banquet, where will you be standing and why?
If there are only Christians: In what ways do you need more of His Spirit?
Prayer Time
Split into groups of two or three. Have group members pray over each other according to what was just discussed. Come back into the big group. Pray especially for the needs of new people in the group. Pray a prayer of blessing on their lives.
Share the Vision: (10 Minutes) OUT-REACH
The only way really to be prepared is to receive the Life of Jesus Christ . . . believing on Him intellectually, but surrendering your whole being as a vessel to be filled with His Holy Spirit. Each week we meet to encourage, pray, and minister to one another. As we learn to love and trust one another and grow in our walk with Jesus, we want to add new members so they too can experience the intimacy we have found. 
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