Cell vision introduction

The Friendship Evangelical Church is a cell church. This local church form has become popular worldwide in recent years. The largest churches in the world are almost all cell churches.

Biblical history

Tthe principles on which cell churches are based, however,  are not new. We see them in the ministry of Jesus.  Instead of spending His time reaching multitudes, Jesus spent around 50% of His time with a small group of 12 disciples. He then choose three men from this group to be with Him almost constantly. Peter, James and John were with Jesus during many wonderful but also in difficult moments.  (see for example Mark 14:33).

In the rest of the New Testament we see believers coming together in 'house groups"  (Acts 2:46; Romans 16:5; Philemon 1:2). In verses such as Acts 2:46 and Romans 16:23 we see as well that there were connections between these groups and that the groups periodically gathered together.

Church History

Throughout church history we also see the power of the fellowship of believers.  In the eighteenth century there were two renown evangelists in Great Britain,  George Whitefield and John Wesley. Both spoke to large crowds and saw the power of God at work. There was a difference between these two men, however. George Whitefield commented at the end of his life that, in contrast to John Wesley,  he saw little remaining fruit in his ministry.  John Wesley changed the history of Great Britain. His secret - he organized the people who came to faith through his ministry into small groups in which the members supported one another in their walk with God.  According to some historians, the Methodist movement was the reason that there was no bloody revolution in Great Britain, unlike what occurred in France.

Friendship Evangelical Cell Church  is a cell church because we believe in these underlying Biblical principles. At the same time, we believe that the cell church is a good model for modern times. We believe that we can give shape to God's purposes for the church (worship, equipping the saints, fellowship and evangelism) via this church model.