SOL 2021 at TLBS - Reflections

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SOL 2021 at TLBS - Reflections Collection of learnings, reflections and thoughts on spiritual leadership.

08/08/2026

5-MINUTE REFLECTION
*How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 5)*
_*FROM PRECEPT TO...*_
sqsquirrel20260717
________________________
_(Approx. 8–10 minutes reading time)_

WHAT happens after desire has been awakened?

The answer may surprise us.

Many churches instinctively begin with precepts.

Attend church.
Join a cell group.

Read your Bible.
Pray daily.

Serve in a ministry.
Attend the course.

Complete the workbook.
Share your testimony.
Invite a friend.

None of these is wrong.

In fact, many are helpful.

Every family has house rules.
Every school has regulations.
Every organisation has policies.

Likewise, every church develops forms, pathways and practices.

The danger does not lie in having them.
The danger begins when we quietly mistake them for the Christian life itself.

Over the years, churches around the world have developed many disciplemaking pathways.

Some meet in homes.
Others in classrooms.

Some gather in groups of twelve.
Others in smaller or larger communities.

Some have carefully designed training pathways.
Others have mentoring relationships.

Still others have programmes with names unique to their own culture.
One ministry in Africa even calls its disciplemaking journey *Safari*.

Different countries.
Different cultures.
Different expressions.

Yet the same burden.

To make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Ps Edmund Chan has often reminded us that the mission of the Church is disciplemaking.

To him, the Beatitudes encapsulate the discipleship _manifesto_ of Jesus.

*That manifesto never changes.*
Its expressions do.

Once the essence has been grasped and internalised, God's people are free to develop expressions appropriate to their own culture, language and context, as the Spirit leads.

*The form is never the essence.*
*The form serves the essence.*

*The essence gives birth to the form.*

The Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi writes:
___
"The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish.
*When the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.*

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits.
*When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.*

The purpose of words is to convey ideas.
*When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.*

*I want to speak to a man who has forgotten words."*
___

Perhaps disciplemaking pathways are like fish traps.

They exist for the fish.
Never the other way around.

Yet how easily we begin preserving the traps.

We defend the method.
We protect the programme.

We preserve the structure.
We package it.

We market it.
We make it reproducible.

We ensure it is sustainable.
We celebrate rapid multiplication.

We become fascinated by what is scalable, transferable and rapidly reproducible.
Without intending to, we begin borrowing the instincts of the marketplace.

The Kingdom quietly starts looking more like a franchise than a family.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the means becomes the end.

Perhaps this is where another distinction may help us.

Spiritual growth invites the disciple to move from the *Precept...*..to the *Principle* behind the precept.

*Precepts instruct.*

They answer the question,
*"What should I do?"*

*Principles illuminate.*

They answer the question,
*"Why does God ask this of me?"*

The _performing_ student may know the precept.
The _maturing_ disciple begins to discover the principle behind it.

Yet even principles are not the destination.

For principles, detached from _communion_ with God, can quietly become another form.

The Pharisees knew many precepts.
They also understood many principles.

Yet Jesus said,

*"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you...may have life."*
(John 5:39-40)

The tragedy was not that they lacked knowledge.

Nor that they lacked discipline.
Nor even that they lacked principles.

They had quietly stopped at the signpost.....instead of journeying to the *Person*.

Jesus never invited people merely to embrace a set of principles.

He invited them to Himself.

*"Come to Me..."*
*"Follow Me..."*
*"Abide in Me..."*

This, perhaps, is the progression of the Christian life.

*Precepts instruct.*
*Principles illuminate.*
*The Person transforms.*

Precepts tell us *what* to do.
Principles help us understand *why*.

The Person changes *who we become*.

Without precepts, we may lack direction.
Without principles, we may lack understanding.

Without the Person, we lack life.

Perhaps this explains why two Christians can read the same Bible...

Attend the same church.
Serve in the same ministry.

Yet become very different people.

One becomes increasingly gentle.
The other increasingly harsh.

One becomes freer.
The other more rigid.

One becomes more like Christ.
The other merely becomes more religious.

The difference is not what they know.

It is Whom they know.

Jesus said,
*"Abide in Me, and I in you."* (John 15:4)

He did not say,
*"Abide in My teachings."*

Important though they are.

Nor,
*"Abide in My principles."*

Necessary though they are.

He said,
*"Abide in Me."*

Christianity is ultimately not centred on a programme.

Nor a pathway.
Nor a philosophy.
Nor even a set of biblical principles.

It is centred on a Person.
The living Christ.

Moses understood this long before the birth of the Church.

Standing on the edge of the Promised Land, he did not ask God for a better strategy.

Or a stronger leadership team.
Or clearer instructions.

He prayed,
*"If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here."*
(Exodus 33:15)

He understood something many of us are still learning.

God's greatest gift is never His methods.

It is Himself.

Perhaps that is why spiritual formation is never ultimately about mastering precepts.

Nor merely understanding principles.
It is about learning to live continually in the Presence of God.

When we do, something remarkable begins to happen.

Precepts are no longer burdens.
Principles are no longer merely ideas.

Both quietly become expressions of a living relationship.

Duty gives way to delight.
Obligation gives way to love.
Compliance gives way to communion.

Perhaps this is the true goal of disciplemaking.

Not producing people who merely know what Christians do.
Not even people who understand why Christians do it.

But people who increasingly walk with Jesus.

Hear His voice.
Respond to His leading.
Become like Him.

Perhaps that is why every disciplemaking movement, every church model, every pathway and every programme must continually ask itself one simple question.

*Are we making disciples of Jesus...*
*...or disciples of our system?*

Systems may organise the Church.
Precepts may instruct the Church.
Principles may illuminate the Church.

Only Christ can give her life.
_____

*Prayer of the Heart ❤️*

Father,

Thank You for the many precepts and principles You have graciously given us.

Guard me from stopping there.

Lead me beyond information into transformation.
Beyond methods into communion.
Beyond knowing about You into knowing You.

May every discipline, every practice and every act of obedience draw me ever deeper into Your Presence.

Teach me to abide in Christ.

For He alone is my life.

Amen.

_______
ENCOUNTERS OF 'A CERTAIN KIND' | How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 5) | sqsquirrel20260717

31/07/2026

5-MINUTE REFLECTION
*How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 4)*
*_CONNECTED! ...To Whom... or What?_*
sqsquirrel20260707
________________________
_(Approx. 8–10 minutes reading time)_

*EVERYONE* was connecting.

But to whom?
Or to what?

Some were connecting with God.
Others with their phones.

Others with Facebook.
Others with work.
Others with their worries.
Others with themselves.

Jesus once said,
*"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."*
(Matthew 6:21)

Perhaps prayer is not first about closing our eyes.
It is about where our hearts are connecting.

Every year, during the 40.Days Prayer season, pastors across Singapore issue a clarion call for Christians to pray for our nation.

The invitation gradually filters down through the churches to the individual cell groups.

The CGL faithfully echoes the call.
He encourages the members to pray.
He sends reminders.

Some prepare prayer rosters.
Some check in with members.
Some gently ask how their prayer journey is going.

Others try to make the members *accountable*,
so that they themselves can _account_ to their supervisors,
who in turn _account_ to the pastors.

For a while, there is enthusiasm.

Then the sharing in the group chat becomes less frequent.
The reminders become fewer.
The silence becomes longer.

He becomes discouraged.

He began by _inspiring_.
Inspiring slowly became _striving_.
Striving slowly became _driving_.
The members were merely _trying_.
Trying slowly became _complying_.

All the while, the flame of prayer
was quietly _dying_.

And the CGL was left _wondering_... and quietly _sighing_. 😟

Until one day, he became _disillusioned_.

Then a question quietly surfaced.
*What exactly is a "season" of prayer?*

What happens _after_ the forty days?
Does prayer quietly return to the shelf until the next campaign?
Or is prayer something altogether different?

A way of life.
A relationship.
A continual returning to the Father.

Perhaps accountability is seldom the real issue.
More often, it is desire.

When desire is present,
accountability becomes a *servant*.
When desire is absent,
accountability easily becomes *another burden*.

Eventually, it becomes a *bit*. 🐴

It may restrain behaviour.
But it can never awaken desire.

Henri Nouwen observed that no one can be forced into the spiritual life.
Love invites.
It never coerces.

That is true of God.

Perhaps it should also be true of us.

This raises another question.
*How does a value become internalised?*

Knowledge informs.
Experience transforms.
Desire awakens.

A person may know that prayer is important.
He may sincerely agree with it.
He may even feel guilty for neglecting it.
Yet none of these necessarily produces a praying life.

Knowledge alone seldom changes a person.
Transformation usually begins with self-awareness.

This is where the CGL has a unique opportunity.

Rather than asking,
*"Did you pray today?"*

Perhaps he could gently ask,

*"What happened within you when you tried to pray?"*
*"I noticed I kept reaching for my phone."*
*"I became restless."*
*"I didn't know what to say."*
*"I realised I didn't really want to pray."*
*"I found myself enjoying being with God."*

Without self-awareness, there can be no transformation.

Jesus Himself encountered this tension.

The Pharisees were remarkably disciplined.

They prayed.
They fasted.
They tithed.
They knew the Scriptures.

Many genuinely desired to honour God.
Yet Jesus repeatedly drew attention to something deeper.

Their outward practices had gradually become disconnected from their inward life.
They honoured God with their lips.
Yet their hearts were often far from Him.

Some loved long public prayers.
Others carefully observed religious practices.

Yet somewhere along the way, the Father quietly disappeared behind the practices.

This was not true of every Pharisee.

Nicodemus came seeking Jesus.
Joseph of Arimathea courageously honoured Him after His death.

Jesus did not condemn prayer.
He did not condemn fasting.
He did not condemn spiritual disciplines.

He invited people beyond the disciplines...
..to the Father.

Eugene Peterson captures this beautifully:
*"The assumption of spirituality is that*
*God is doing something before I know it.*
*So the task is not to get God to do something*
*I think needs to be done*
*but to become aware of what God is doing*
*so that I can respond to it,*
*participate in it,*
*and*
*take delight in it."*

Prayer is no longer about persuading God to do something.

It is about becoming aware of what He is already doing.

Then responding.
Participating.
Taking delight in Him.

Perhaps that was the tragedy of the elder brother.

He participated in the work.
But not in the joy.
He fulfilled his duty.
Yet missed the delight of sharing in his father's heart.

Perhaps that is God's invitation to us as well.

Not merely to participate in a season of prayer.
But to share in the joy of the Father.

An old proverb says,
*"You can lead a horse to water.*
*But you cannot make it drink."*

Perhaps the same is true spiritually.
We can invite people to pray.

We can organise prayer meetings.
We can provide prayer guides.

We can send reminders.
We can encourage accountability.

Yet none of these can awaken desire.

*Only God can.*

Perhaps the deeper question has never been,
*"Did you pray?"*

Nor even,
*"How long did you pray?"*

Perhaps the deeper question is,
*"With whom were you connecting?"*

Or perhaps,
*"What captured your heart?"*

For where your treasure is...

There your heart will be also.

Perhaps our calling as shepherds is not to produce prayer.
Nor to measure prayer.
Nor even to motivate prayer.

Perhaps our calling is simply to help people reconnect with the Father.

For once the Father captures the heart...

Duty quietly gives way to delight.
Prayer ceases to be an obligation.

It becomes a joyful participation
in what God is already doing.🍓😃

*Prayer of the Heart ❤️*

Father,

Forgive me for the many times I have settled for _duty_
when You were inviting me into _delight_.

Awaken within me a deeper desire for You.
Teach me not merely to pray,
but to enjoy Your presence.

Help me become aware
of what You are already doing,
so that I may respond,
participate, and
delight in You.

Where I have tried to produce through pressure
what only You can awaken by grace,
forgive me.

As I journey with others,
may I never merely lead them to prayer.

*May I lead them to You.*

Amen.

_______
ENCOUNTERS OF 'A CERTAIN KIND' | How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 4) | sqsquirrel20260707

30/07/2026

5-MINUTE REFLECTION
*How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 3)*
_Been with Jesus_
sqsquirrel20260705
______________________________
_(Approx. 5–6 minutes reading time)_

IN Part 2, I suggested that the deepest issue in Christian leadership is not management.

It is formation.

The fathers who shape us eventually become the fathers we reveal.

That raises another question.

*If the Kingdom does not operate primarily on _credentials_, what does God look for?*

In Part 1, I shared about the brother who volunteered to become a CGL, but only on his own terms.

He wanted to teach.
He did not want to shepherd.

To continue the story, before he approached me, I had already been praying about who should lead the group.

The Lord kept bringing one person to mind.
A sister in Christ.

Humanly speaking, she would probably never have made the shortlist.
- She was not an exceptional organizer.
- She was not a particularly gifted communicator.
- She did not possess what many churches would instinctively describe as leadership qualities.

Yet every time I prayed, I found myself returning to her.
- She was a woman of prayer.
- She had learnt to listen to God.
- She possessed a gentle spirit.
- She loved people.

More importantly, I sensed that God had called her.

She accepted.

Later she shared that she believed God was preparing her for missionary work.
If she was to shepherd people one day, she sensed she needed to begin learning now.

This cell group, she believed, was God's training ground.

Over the months that followed, something beautiful happened.
- The cell group slowly took on the character of its shepherd.
- People prayed more.
- They listened more carefully to God.
- They loved one another more deeply.

There were no spectacular programmes.
No impressive statistics.
Yet there was unmistakable spiritual growth.

Looking back, I realized how easily I could have chosen the more obviously competent candidate.

Instead, God reminded me that His Kingdom has never operated primarily on paper.

*"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."*
— 1 Samuel 16:7

In an intentional disciplemaking church, a CGL is often described as a shepherd, teacher, leader and disciple-maker.

Each role matters.

Yet I have come to believe they are not equal.

The shepherd comes first.
A shepherd teaches.
A shepherd leads.
A shepherd makes disciples.

Everything else grows out of shepherding.

That experience prepared me for another conversation.

When I was about to be installed as a Lay Pastor, I invited a friend to the service.

His response caught me by surprise.

_"Seb, how does your church appoint pastors?"_

Then he explained.

_"When someone is called a pastor, I assume he has been to theological school. When he teaches the Bible, I can trust his interpretation."_

Shortly after, I shared the conversation with our senior pastor, *Ps Kay Kiong*, when I met him for a group lunch.

Before the other guests arrived, he quietly put his arm around my shoulders and said,

_"Elder Seb, go and tell your friend about Acts 4:13."_

*"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were _uneducated, common men_, they were astonished. And they recognized that _they had been with Jesus_."*
— Acts 4:13

I have never forgotten that conversation.

Some insights fade with time.
Divine wisdom never becomes passé.

That conversation reshaped the way I think about Christian leadership.

Since that day, I have found myself asking a different question whenever I meet someone in Christian leadership.

Not,
"Is he competent?"

Nor,
"Is she gifted?"

Nor,
"What are their credentials?"

Nor,
"What have they achieved?"

Only this.

*Have they been with Jesus?*

Leadership materials have their place.
Theological education has its place.

Coaching has its place.
Blended learning has its place.
Spiritual direction has its place.

All are valuable gifts.

Yet none of them can substitute for having been with Jesus.

For only those who have been with Jesus can truly lead like Jesus.

And only those who lead like Jesus can truly lead others to Jesus.

Perhaps that is why, when the disciples asked Jesus,
*"Lord, teach us to pray..."*

He did not begin with a method.
He did not begin with principles.
He did not begin with techniques.

He began with a Father.
*"Our Father in heaven..."*
— Matthew 6:9

Neither did Jesus merely come to teach us about the Father.
He came to reveal Him.

*"Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father."*
— John 14:9

Perhaps that is where Christian leadership begins too.

Not with leadership.
Not with ministry.
Not with strategy.

But with the Father.

Ps Ed has often reminded us,

*"We always reproduce after our own kind."*

He also asks another penetrating question.

Not,
*"How many?"*
But,
*"What kind?"*

What kind of disciples are we forming?
What kind of leaders are we reproducing?
What kind of churches are we becoming?

Every leader eventually reveals _a father._
Consciously or unconsciously.

The question is not whether people are following us.

The question is:
*Whom do they meet when they do?*

_Our father?_

_Or the Father Jesus came to reveal?_
.....

*A Prayer of the Heart* ❤️

*Father,*

Reveal Yourself to me.

Where I have unconsciously carried the image of an earthly father instead of You, gently renew my heart.

Teach me not merely to work for You, but to walk with You.

Help me to desire Your presence more than success, Your approval more than recognition, and Your ways more than results.

May I never rely on credentials, experience or ability more than abiding in Christ.

Like the first disciples, may my life quietly bear witness that I have been with Jesus.

And as I lead, teach, shepherd or simply love the people You entrust to me, may they catch a glimpse, not of me, but of the Father Jesus came to reveal.

Amen.

_______
ENCOUNTERS OF 'A CERTAIN KIND' | How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 3) | sqsquirrel20260705

11/07/2026

5-MINUTE REFLECTION
How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 2)
Whose Father Are We Revealing?
sqsquirrel20260630
________
An Extended Reflection
(Approx. 5–6 minutes reading time)

ONE response to Part 1 has stayed with me.

"How did we become like this?"

I have been pondering that question ever since.

The more I reflect on it, the less convinced I am that the answer lies primarily in church structures, programmes or cell group models.

Those are symptoms. The issue lies much deeper.

It is a question of formation.

How do good shepherds slowly become managers?
How do loving leaders gradually become controlling supervisors?
How do people who sincerely desire to serve Christ end up serving the system?

Perhaps it begins long before we become leaders.

Without realizing it, we often reproduce the father we knew rather than reveal the Father Jesus came to show us.

Some of us grew up with absent fathers.
Others with harsh fathers.
Still others with fathers whose love always seemed conditional.

Many learnt leadership from demanding bosses.
Others from successful pastors.
Others from organizations where performance determined one's worth.

Every one of them left an imprint.

Whatever has shaped us eventually finds its way into the way we lead.

Meetings slowly change.

They are no longer occasions where shepherds are nurtured. Increasingly, they become places where management knowledge is passed on. We share the lessons we painfully learnt from surviving the marketplace: how to meet expectations, manage difficult people and deliver results.

None of these are unimportant.

Yet somewhere along the way, we forget that we are not raising managers.

We are raising shepherds.

Without intending to, mentoring gives way to monitoring.
Nurturing gives way to reporting.
Formation gives way to performance.

No one sets out to become this kind of leader.
Most genuinely love God.

Most sincerely want to serve His people.
They simply reproduce what once formed them.

There is another blindness that is even harder to detect.

When appointing CGLs, supervisors or even full-time staff, we naturally gravitate towards people with a good track record.

They have proven themselves in the marketplace.
Or in ministry.
They know how to get things done.

On paper, they seem like the obvious choice.

Yet the Kingdom of God has never operated primarily on paper.

A competent marketplace leader has often spent years learning how to survive in a demanding environment.

Those lessons are not necessarily wrong. Many are gifts from God.

The danger comes when they quietly become the operating system we import into the Church.

The same thing can happen in ministry.

Success itself can become intoxicating.

Everything depends on what we mean by success.

If success is measured primarily by Effectiveness and Efficiency, we may still be operating according to the values of the marketplace.

The way of Jesus is something altogether different.

Ps Ed calls it EFFICACY and defines if from a biblical perspective.

EFFICACY is doing the right thing, in the right way, with the right motive, to produce the right results.

But what is "right"?

It is what is right in God's eyes.

So EFFICACY is:

Doing the God-thing.
In God's time.
In God's way.
With God's heart.
To accomplish God's purposes.

The Kingdom of God is not ultimately built by efficient people.
It is built by faithful people.

Faithfulness is the measure.
God is responsible for the results.

A secularized church rarely looks secular.

It still speaks the language of vision, mission, excellence and growth.

None of these are wrong.

They become dangerous only when they quietly cease to be signposts pointing to God and become destinations in themselves.

We no longer use ministry to lead people to God. Instead, we begin using God to build ministry.

Jesus issued a sobering warning:
"If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" — Matthew 6:23

Perhaps the greatest danger is not that the world enters the Church.

It is that the Church no longer recognizes it.

The end of the Great Commission is not church size.
Nor programmes.
Nor influence.

The end of the Great Commission is God Himself.

Everything begins with Him.
Everything leads back to Him.
___

ENCOUNTERS OF 'A CERTAIN KIND' | How to Kill a Cell Group (Part 2) | sqsquirrel20260630

07/07/2026

5-MINUTE REFLECTION
How to Kill a Cell Group
sqsquirrrel20260624
________
An Extended Reflection
(Approx. 10–15 minutes reading time)

ONE day it hit me.

A church may have 200 cell groups.

It does not necessarily have 200 cell group leaders (CGLs).

Most are CGMs.

What are CGMs?

Cell Group Managers (CGMs).

A leader leads.
A manager manages.

Think of a condominium manager.

- Make sure the swimming pool is clean.
- The car parks are functioning.
- The security guards are doing their rounds.
- The maintenance fees are collected.
- The grass is cut.
- The garden looks beautiful.
- The residents are happy.
- Prepare for the Annual General Meeting.
- Handle complaints.
- Call the police when necessary.

Nothing wrong with management.

The problem begins when leadership quietly becomes management.

And no one notices.

The stress starts the moment the CG agenda arrives from church headquarters.

The ball is now in the CGM's court.

A few days to read and digest the material.
A few days to prepare.
A few days to coordinate.

In desperation, some simply forward the Leader's Guide, originally intended for the CGL, to the members.

"Now you know as much as I do."

That is the implicit message.

The 5 Ws.

Welcome.
Worship.
Word.
Walk.
Wallop (supper)

Who is doing icebreaker?
Who is leading worship?
Who is facilitating discussion?
Who is bringing food?
Who is setting up?
Who is following up absentees?

The situation becomes more stressful when there are no willing or competent members available.

Soon the CGM is doing all five.

If he is married, it helps.

Or perhaps it doesn't.

Buy one, get one free.

His spouse becomes the de facto assistant CGM.

As one CG spouse once shared:

"Every week feels like a tsunami."

Before long, being a CGL feels less like a calling and more like a life sentence.

He discovers something else.

Finding his successor is his responsibility.

To his surprise, many members are already serving elsewhere.

Some are ministry leaders.
Some are committee members.
Some are involved in church programmes.

Few want to step up.

Most are tired.
Many simply want to rest.

The desperate appeals begin.

No volunteers emerge.

The only practical exit clause is burnout.

The leader throws in the towel.

Successor or no successor.

The meetings with supervisors gradually become management meetings.

How many attended church?
How many attended prayer meeting?
How many signed up for camp?
How many attended outreach?
How many attended the block party?
How many attended the evangelistic event?

Important questions perhaps.

Yet something inside the leader slowly dies.

His soul languishes.
His marriage is strained.
His health deteriorates.
His sleep suffers.
He becomes irritable.

But he is a CGL.
So he learns to smile.

The question remains.

How did we get here?

The answer is culture.

Culture eats vision for lunch every time.

Many churches appoint leaders based on availability.

Or competence.
Or gifting.
Or simply because no one else is willing.

Calling becomes secondary.
Sometimes irrelevant.
Over time this becomes normal.
Then it becomes systemic.

Soon nobody notices.

Until a crisis arrives.

The deeper disease has been present for years.

The tyranny of the urgent.

The endless demand to keep the machinery running.

Meanwhile, people wait.

And wait.
And wait.

Worshippers are encouraged to join a cell group.

Yet there is no space.

They enter a holding bay.
A waiting list.
A warehouse.

Some wait so long they quietly give up.
The queue grows longer.

The irony is painful.

The church preaches community.
Yet cannot provide community.

Being a CGL is no longer viewed as a privilege.

It is viewed as a burden.

Members observe their leaders.

They see the exhaustion.
They see the stress.
They see the endless demands.

Then they decide:
"I don't want that."

The shortage deepens.
The queue grows longer.
More warehouses are created.

In desperation, some groups form committees.
Or core teams.

Not to lead.
To spread the management load.

The culture reproduces itself.

Management begets management.

The goal becomes survival.

Keep the group alive.
Keep the numbers up.
Keep the reports flowing.
Keep the machine running.

Another consequence slowly emerges.

The Senior Pastor sees the problem.

He has been trying to solve it for years.

Perhaps he inherited it.
Perhaps he unintentionally helped create it.

Most likely, it is some combination of both.

Amid the relentless demands of caring for and leading the flock, he too can become trapped in the system.

The shepherd gradually becomes a manager.

The church is no longer being led.

It is being managed.
Programmes must run.
Vacancies must be filled.
Reports must be submitted.
Committees must function.

The urgent crowds out the important.
The immediate crowds out the essential.

The system demands managers.
The Spirit seeks leaders.

Another subtle shift often occurs when a cell group grows.

The CGL is promoted.

On paper, it sounds like progress.

In reality, it may be the beginning of another problem.

The assumption is simple.

If he successfully leads one group, surely he can supervise several groups.

If he is an effective CGL, surely he can become a zone leader, cluster leader or supervisor.

Yet leadership does not always work that way.

In the business world, an excellent salesperson does not automatically become a good sales manager.

The skills are different.
The calling may be different.
The gifting may be different.

The person who thrives at ground zero may struggle several layers above it.

Many CGLs love people.

They love conversations over coffee.
They love opening Scripture together.
They love walking with struggling members.
They love being present at hospital bedsides.
They love shepherding.

Now they are asked to supervise other CGLs.

Attend more meetings.
Review reports.
Coordinate programmes.
Implement initiatives.
Monitor performance.

The work changes.

Sometimes the person flourishes.

Sometimes he withers.

The very thing that once gave him life is removed.

At other times, he unconsciously begins to micromanage.

Unable to let go.
Unable to trust.
Unable to stop leading the other leaders as though they were members of his own CG.

Without realising it, he begins to subvert the very leaders he is supposed to support.

The irony is painful.

A gifted shepherd is removed from shepherding.

The system assumes that bigger responsibility must mean moving upwards.

Yet in God's kingdom, bigger is not always higher.

Sometimes the highest calling is to remain where God has placed us.

Faithfully.
Fruitfully.
Joyfully.

A church can lose many good shepherds by promoting them out of their calling.

In time, another phenomenon appears.

Volunteers step forward.

At first glance, this seems encouraging.

Until one begins listening carefully.

One person once said to me:

"I would like to volunteer to be a CGL, but these are my conditions.

- I don't want to attend leadership meetings.

- I don't want to participate in corporate church events.

- I don't want to manage the CG.

- I only want to teach the Bible during Word time."

The statement was revealing.

The person was volunteering for a role he had already redefined.

Teacher.

Nothing wrong with teaching.

Teaching is a gift.

But a cell group leader is called to something larger.

People do not merely need information.

They need shepherding.
They need encouragement.
They need presence.
They need someone who will walk with them through sickness, grief, failure, confusion, conflict and doubt.

The problem becomes even more complicated because motives are rarely pure.

Some genuinely desire to serve.

Others are drawn by the title.
Some enjoy the recognition.
Some enjoy the influence.
Some enjoy the authority.

Leadership positions can quietly become platforms for significance.

Then comes multiplication.

The group is declared "too big."

Members who have spent years building relationships are separated.
Some feel hurt.
Some feel lost.
Some comply outwardly while grieving inwardly.

Then attendance starts slipping.

One member cannot make it.
Then another.
Then another.

The meeting is cancelled at the last minute.

A member who was not informed turns up.

Disappointed.

Perhaps that was the very night he desperately needed encouragement.

Reliability begins to disappear.

People become unsure whether there will even be a meeting next week.

Soon they stop prioritising CG.

The crisis deepens.

The CGM becomes discouraged.

The supper prepared for the meeting ends up with the neighbours or migrant workers.

One day I asked Ps Edmund Chan:

"If you became the Small Group Director of a church, what is the first thing you would do?"

His answer surprised me.

"I would ask all those who are not called by God to be cell group leaders to step down."

I immediately thought about the implications.

What happens to the members?
What happens to the groups?

His answer was equally surprising.

"Those who are called can shepherd larger groups."

The called leader is recognisable.

There is a passion.
A conviction.
A tenacity.
A resilience.

Something keeps drawing him back to the work even when the work becomes costly.

The source is deeper than personality.
Deeper than gifting.
Deeper than competence.

It is rooted in the conviction that God has called him.

Appoint only those who have a calling to lead a small group.

Availability matters.
Competence matters.
Gifting matters.
Experience matters.
Vacancies will always exist.

Yet beneath all these lies a deeper question.

Has God called this person?

For when God calls, He also sustains.

He gives the grace to persevere when the work becomes difficult.

He gives the courage to remain when others walk away.

He gives the resilience to continue when results are slow and appreciation is scarce.

The calling itself becomes part of the fuel.

Yet perhaps the issue runs even deeper.

The article has assumed that calling exists.

The question has been:

Who is called?

But perhaps there is a prior question.

How would we know?

Many Christians struggle to recognise God's voice.

Many leaders struggle to discern God's leading in the lives of others.

If prospective CGLs do not know how to listen to God, how will they discern a calling?

If leaders do not know how to listen to God, how will they discern whom God is calling?

The entire system then defaults to the only things it can measure.

Availability.
Competence.
Gifting.
Experience.
Willingness.

These are visible.

Calling is not.

This may explain why churches often appoint managers instead of leaders.

The church may affirm in theory that God calls people.

Yet functionally it behaves as though God does not speak.

Appointments are then made based on what can be observed and measured.

The result is predictable.

Some carry burdens they were never meant to carry.

Others never step into the work God prepared for them.

Perhaps this is the deeper crisis.

Not a leadership crisis.
Not a small group crisis.
Not even a calling crisis.

A listening crisis.

If a church loses the ability to listen to God, it eventually loses the ability to discern.

And if it loses the ability to discern,leadership quietly gives way to management.

Perhaps the issue runs even deeper still.

A true disciple of Jesus is always a responder before he is an initiator.

Jesus did not stand by the Sea of Galilee waiting for volunteers.

He called.

"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

Peter did not apply.
Andrew did not submit a résumé.
James and John did not volunteer.

Jesus called.

They responded.

The pattern is remarkably consistent throughout Scripture.

God calls.
People respond.

Which raises a sobering set of questions.

Did God call, or did I volunteer?

Did God give, or did I grab?

Did God invite, or did I gatecrash?

There is no calling without a Caller.

Which raises another question.

Who called you?

Was it God?
Or was it a vacancy?

Was it God?
Or was it a need?

Was it God?
Or was it guilt?

Was it God?
Or was it pressure?

Was it God?
Or was it ambition?

Sometimes we speak of "a calling" as though it were a thing.

An opportunity.
A role.
A ministry.
A title.

Yet a calling is never merely a what.

A calling begins with a Who.

God.

Only God.

If you are a CGL, are you called?

And if you are not a CGL?
Are you called?

Perhaps the issue is not that God is no longer calling.

Perhaps fewer people are responding.

___
ENCOUNTERS OF 'A CERTAIN KIND' | How To Kill a Cell Group | sqsquirrrel20260624

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