Winning the World

34 Wi nn i ng the Wor l d: Fac i l i tat i ng Urban Chur ch P l ant i ng Movement s

b. Larger meetings linked to smaller cell meetings require cell leaders, assistants and zone pastors , all of whom are accountable to the church leadership team.

c. Cell churches require a church building or headquarters to accommodate the various church functions, p. 10.

E. How “house churches” function

1. House churches are not parts of a larger church; they are viewed as real, bona fide, little churches .

2. Each house church functions as a complete, little church, not led by a cell leader and assistant leaders , but by “a spiritual father or mother who functions as the elder along with a small eldership team for the little church,” p. 11.

3. No need for a church building; each house church is a “fully functioning church in itself, meeting in a home,” p. 11.

4. “House churches are simple, easily reproducible, create platforms for gift identification and development, and are effective in showing forth the transforming power of Christ in our neighborhoods and our communities,” p. 11.

5. “HCNs focus on relationships, reaching the lost and raising spiritual fathers and mothers in-house who serve and care for their family,” p. 12 (seen as wonderfully “fluid and flexible”).