A few weeks ago I read the article "Growing A Successful Cell Church In The North American Culture" which Ralph W Neighbour Jr has saved on the International Cell Church Forum facebook page. Even though I live in Australia it is very relevant to our culture also. In January the Lord told me that my primary pastoral responsibility this year is to pray the Prayer of Jabez for each of my cell leaders.

I was convicted that I need to pray more, and so I started getting up earlier to pray for one hour every morning.

Last week, one couple who have resisted attending cell groups turned up at a cell group- and enjoyed it. We now have 90% of our Sunday attenders in cell groups, and overall we have as many people attend cells as the Sunday celebration.

I can see the possibility of starting a family-friendly group very soon (i.e. one that includes small children and meets at a more suitable time than our current adult groups).

Our children's group is continuing to grow, and we may be multiplying it by having the older children meet separately for the Word section.

Even though we are a small church with just 40 people, including children, we have enough leaders trained for at least 10 groups (that's 120-140 people we can minister to with no sweat). Talk about preparing for the harvest!

All this from taking seriously the responsibility to pray for my church.