Welcome to Cell UK!
Cell UK ran as a charity for over 20 years serving churches around the UK by providing resources and training for holistic small groups with a missional heartbeat.
Although the charity itself is no longer running, Laurence Singlehurst and Trevor Withers are still available for consultations and training upon request. You can contact Laurence at lsinglehurst@gmail.com and Trevor on info@networkchurch.org
Some of the resources produced by them and the Cell UK team are available below as PDF downloads and you are free to use them in your local situation to help establish healthy small groups.
Small groups an introduction - suitable for those joining or starting a small group
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You have been invited to join a small group – perhaps called a connect group, cell group, a home group or a life group – their names go on! Maybe you are starting a new group and looking for inspiration and ideas of how to make it work well. Or you might have been in a group for some while and want to refresh your understanding of what it means to be in one of these groups.
This booklet seeks to give some biblical background and framework along with a practical understanding of what it might be like to be part of a group.
Help I'm leading part of my small group - a must for everyone in a small group
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Help! is at hand. If you get that ‘oh no’ feeling when it’s your turn to lead part of your small group, then this booklet is written especially for you.
Our hope is that it will enable you to make the part you are leading easier for you, and helpful for the other members of your group.
The aim is to stimulate your own thinking, creativity and idea and acts as a useful resource for you to make your contribution to your small group community. So that you can all grow in your relationship with God, each other and the world at large.
Developing leaders - training for small group leaders
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This booklet is a collaborative project between Trevor Withers and Laurence Singlehurst, who have been running successful and popular small groups training across denominations and church streams for over 20 years.
This booklet enables both theoretical understanding and practical application in a real small group with other potential group leaders from your church. Grounded in biblical beliefs and values, this booklet includes reading matter for people to learn on their own, questions for discussion in a group, and material to be used in an actual small group setting.
It works like this:
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you read the opening three chapters on your own
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then meet as a group for discussion for three sessions, using the next three chapters
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and then meet for three sessions to see how it works using the outlines and material in the last three chapters
Encounter - interactive Bible studies for small groups
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Designed specifically for small groups, these Bible studies are interactive and participatory, and encourage application to everyday life.
We hope that as small groups use these Bible studies they will indeed encounter the presence of God as they apply each lesson and pray for one another.
Three ways you could use this booklet:-
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Work through the sessions as they are in the booklet.
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Use a few at a time to intersperse your normal pattern and so spread them out over a year or so.
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Create your own pick ‘n’ mix by using 4 or 5 in a mini-series, then later on another 3 or 4.
In small groups the intention is to encounter God, encounter and strengthen one another, and to encounter our lost world through service and witness. We believe these Encounter Bible Studies will enable all three of these areas.
Small groups bigger kingdom - pathways to faith in today's world
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Our desire in writing this booklet is to encourage holistic small groups with a missional heartbeat. In many small groups it is the missional part that is the biggest challenge. We are often not sure what this looks like or how to include it in a way that is not threatening or off putting for our small group members. This lack of confidence and uncertainty means that many of our small groups like to think they are missional in some way but have little if any understanding of what that can look like on a meeting by meeting basis. This means that for most it is not a regular feature of their small group life.
If that sounds in any way like your group then our hope is that this booklet will help you.
We start by looking at some of the challenges we face as Christians in the UK as we share our faith and how we can think differently about this challenge and what this means for us. We then move to think through some of the practicalities and translate these concepts into actual things we can do in our small group to become missional. This is a practical resource essential in developing small groups with a missional heartbeat.
40 creative worship ideas for small groups - non musical worship ideas for small groups
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40 Creative Worship Ideas covers a broad range of Christian worship. We all connect with God in different ways, so these sets of cards each contain a range of ideas with the hope that everyone in your group can lead worship confidently.
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Our lives
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Scripture
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Objects
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Words
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The natural world
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Games
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‘I am’ sayings of Jesus
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Stories behind the hymns
40 missional ideas for small groups - for the missional heartbeat of your group
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How can each one of us live out Christ in the context of where we work, where we live and in our families? Cell UK has brought together 40 fantastic ideas for use in small groups.
These ideas will take about ten minutes and give practical ways to encourage and empower each other as we seek to love those around us.
The cards break down into eight themes – preparation, hospitality, neighbourhood, work, third space, prayer, big church and gospel words – each taking your small group on a journey, renewing minds and creating new rhythms for life.
The Big Story - take an express tour of the Bible
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The Big Story is a manageable way to grasp the story of the Bible in its own words. This booklet follows the plot of scripture in eight major episodes. Along the way, you will find greater confidence in handling the Bible, new insights into how it fits together, and most importantly the voice of God bringing His message alive in your life.
Using this guide you can:
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take a 40-day express tour of the whole Bible
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or cover the 112 most important passages in Scripture
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work through the Bible story on your own or with a group
4Life - God's values for living
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Want to go deeper with God or refresh your faith? 4Life is full of honesty, passion and humour, and seeks to give a solid foundation for practical Christian living today. The ingredients are simple; ten readings on your own, then an honest meeting with a trusted mentor. The journey in these pages will leave you changed.
Click here to download the facilitator's guide for working through 4Life in your small group.
Walking Together - making 21st century disciples
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What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? How am I meant to go about being a disciple? Walking Together answers these questions and helps us to, not only be disciples ourselves, but also to make effective disciples in our present culture. There is material for you to apply as well as help in forming those one-on-one relationships that are essential for us to grow as disciples.
Transforming Values - a new way to disciple
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This book challenges us to think differently about our growth as Christians, asking us to think about our values rather than just trying to change our actions. This book will enable you to set a new framework in which you can then grow, and help others to do the same. Full of practical advice, wit and great stories.
To purchase Trevor's book 'Shame and the Gospel' click here.
More resources
The groups that Laurence and Trevor encourage have some key ingredients, they are as follows:
Five values
A is for: All Involved
B is for: Becoming Disciples
C is for: Creating Community
D is for: Developing Evangelism
E is for: Encountering God
A set of 12 small group outlines to enable your group to work through these values is available below as downloadable PDFs:
Week 1: Encountering God
Week 2: Creating community
Week 3: All involved
Week 4: All involved
Week 5: Doing evangelism
Week 6: Doing evangelism
Week 7: Becoming disciples
Week 8: Encountering God
Week 9: Encountering God
Week 10: Creating community
Week 11: All involved
Week 12: Becoming disciples
You and your small group
The following are also available as Word documents:
What is a holistic small group with a missional heartbeat
Starting a small group
Developing your group
Supporting small group leaders in your church
Values of small groups
Values evaluation for your group
The small group cycle
Sticking points
Helpful links:
SPCK Publishing has created a website with a range of resources to support small groups:
https://homegroups.org.uk/
Fusion's focus is students and young adults, but the resources have been widely adopted across the church:
https://www.fusionmovement.org/
LICC offers a range of helpful resources:
https://licc.org.uk/
To purchase Trevor's book 'Shame and the Gospel' click here.