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Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels?

Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels?. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels?. Aim To help British Methodists re-connect with their spiritual heritage in the 21 st century through the re-introduction of the class system in a cell church context.

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Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels?

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  1. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels?

  2. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • Aim • To help British Methodists re-connect with their spiritual heritage in the 21st century through the re-introduction of the class system in a cell church context. • This summary document could help in the transitioning purpose within the context of a Methodist Circuit or individual church – maybe!

  3. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? 2. Introduction Within the class meetings real heart-felt life-changing faith in Christ was discovered and nurtured. People were strongly encouraged to confess their sins to one another and be completely honest about who they were and their relationship with God.

  4. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • 3. Early Methodism & the emergence of the class system (A brief history lesson!) • JW got the idea from Hernhut from the Moravians - & the classes emerged ‘by mistake’! • Classes started as a fund raising initiative for the Horsefair preaching house in Bristol.

  5. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • 4. The Function, Purposes and Aims of the Class Meeting • The aim of the class was kept as clear as possible. Wesley said in the ‘Rules of the Band-Societies’, • “The design of our meeting is, to obey that command of God, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” • Rules for the Bands and Societies – interesting reading! • The 4 & 11 questions – also interesting!

  6. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • 5. The Continuing Legacy? • Some British Methodists would suggest that this legacy lives on today and is enshrined in the Constitutional Standing Orders of the British Methodist Church, where it states, • “…As membership of the Methodist Church also involves fellowship it is the duty of all members of the Methodist Church to seek to cultivate this in every possible way. The weekly class meeting has from the beginning proved to be the most effective means of maintaining among Methodists true fellowship in Christian experience…”[1] • [1] CPD Vol. II 2003, Part 1 – Deed of Union, Section 2 Paragraph 9, p.215)

  7. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • 6. The Parallels or similarities • Common purposes and aims • Experience & Application versus Theology & Doctrine • Lay Leadership • Mutual Accountability • Groups Sizes and Frequency of Meeting

  8. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • 7.Differences of the early Methodist Class System and Cell • Early Methodist Discipline & Cell Values • Class Meeting & Cell Meeting • Evangelism

  9. Cell resource - www.revmark.tk

  10. Methodist Class System and Cell Parallels? • Why bother with cell? • Can’t we carry on as before?

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